Convergence
by txfantasystar
Summary: Sequel to "Things Eliot Hates." Angel's shown up, but what does he want? Eliot's pretty sure nothing good can come of this. He never wanted his team exposed to the more demonic part of society. Leverage&Angel crossover
1. Who is this guy?

Disclaimer: I don't own Angel or Leverage. Joss Whedon and Dean Devlin do.

A/N: This takes place at the end of Season 2 of Leverage after "The Future Job" and AU after Season 7 of Buffy and Season 5 of Angel.

I decided to continue this because I felt like it had potential, but I feel that "Things Eliot Hates" was a complete story and had the perfect ending, so I'm posting this as a new story. Also, this is in a slightly different writing style, so there's a slight disconnect between the two stories since "Things Eliot Hates" was not really written to be continued.

Convergence

Chapter 1: Who is this guy?

* * *

_Nate's about to speak when the man turns around suddenly and levels his gaze towards Eliot._

_"Hello, Lindsey," he says and Nate swears that Eliot stops breathing._

* * *

Eliot snaps out of his daze around the time the man takes a step closer. As soon as his foot moves, Eliot snaps to attention, stepping in front of everyone protectively and leveling his own glare in the man's direction.

"How'd you get in here?" he demands, moving Parker back behind him when she tries to inch foreword.

The man shrugs, glancing towards Parker in some strange silent communication and Nate wonders just how well Eliot knows this man if they can communicate silently. Eliot turns to glare at Parker and shushes her when her mouth opens to say something, pushing her further behind him. The man starts to move again and Eliot glares, causing him to stop and pull his hands up slightly as if in surrender before sticking them in the pockets of his coat. They hold a brief staring contest before the man breaks the silence.

"So-"

"Why are you here?" Eliot demands again, cutting the man off.

The man rolls his eyes and sighs. "I need your help."

Eliot snorts. "Yeah, not likely. Get out."

"Just listen. I-"

"No."

"Lindsey."

"No."

"Look, I'm just here to ask for your help with a project-" the man protested.

"Which you in no way deserve to get."

The man sighed, messing with the lapels on his jacket. "Look-"

"No. Get out."

They sank back into their staring contest, the rest of the team watching silently. It was strange to watch Eliot interact with this man. They obviously knew each other very well, if Nate was reading them right, although it was hard to tell what kind of relationship they had actually had. They certainly weren't friends. More like enemies. But there was a certain amount of something almost like trust flowing between them, almost like they knew each other so well that they trusted they could predict each other's next move, even if they hated each other. Nate was pretty sure there had been fear in Eliot's eyes earlier, and he was certain that something that scared Eliot would spell nothing but trouble for the rest of them.

"I mean it, Angel. Get. Out. Now." Eliot growled, moving the group away from the door quietly and pointing to it, all without ever taking his eyes from Angel's. Nate guessed that Angel was the man's name, but couldn't tell if it was the first or last.

"Lindsey-"

"I don't want to hear any more," Eliot snarled, stepping closer to Angel threateningly, "I want you to get out of here and stop bothering me before I decide to kill you where you stand."

Angel growled back, stepping into Eliot's face, "You think you can take me down?"

"I know I can."

"You never have before," Angel replied, pressing his height advantage down on Eliot.

"Do you want to take that chance?" Eliot replied, almost whispering at this point, "Because I'm perfectly willing to see how that goes."

Angel narrowed his eyes down at Eliot and glanced back up at the rest of the team. Eliot growled a warning at him and Angel glared back down before storming out of the loft, slamming the door behind him.

Eliot sagged down as soon as the door closed, letting out a shaky breath as the anger subsided leaving only the same fear Nate had seen earlier. Eliot looked at Nate briefly before clearing his throat and putting his guards back up, collapsing onto the couch. Parker sat next to him silently, curing up into a ball. The rest of the team took seats as well, waiting for Eliot to say something, all uneasy over Eliot's obvious uneasiness. If this Angel could make Eliot show even this brief emotional weakness, they were sure that they should be wary as well.

For a long time Eliot stayed silent and no one on the team pushed him to speak. Finally he turned his head to look at Parker, who blinked up at him, eyes flickering towards the door.

She took a breath. "Yesterday. He was here yesterday while everyone was out. I was bored and then he knocked on the door. He said he needed help, and that's what we do now, so I let him in. I left him alone, for like, two seconds, and when I came back he was gone...I'm sorry..." she said, eyes tearing up as Eliot dropped his head into his hands. When she started sniffling Eliot looked over at her and smiled.

"It's okay, darlin', you didn't know," he said, resting a hand softly on her shoulder, leaving Nate to wonder what exactly it was that they 'didn't know'. She smiled at him briefly and wiped at her eyes as Eliot's gaze returned to the others.

The silence returned until Hardison broke it. "Who was that, man? 'Cause that was a seriously weird experience..."

Eliot sighed and leaned back on the couch. "Just...someone..." he replied vaguely, staring up at the ceiling.

"Eliot. Tell us what's going on. I think we need to know." Nate suggested carefully. He had had enough of not knowing.

Eliot looked over at him. "It's better if you don't know all of it," he replied, "but I can tell you that he's...he's someone from my old life. Before all of this. Before becoming a Retrieval Specialist."

"So you had another life before your life of crime?" Parker asked, uncurling and looking over at Eliot attentively.

Eliot rolled his eyes. In all honesty he was still a criminal back then, although not in the same way. "Yes. His name's Angel. He and I...we didn't get along. Tried to kill each other too many times to count."

"The guy's name is Angel? Seriously?" Hardison asked with a grin.

"Yes," Eliot glared, "and he's incredibly dangerous and hates me, so try to avoid him if you ever see him again."

Hardison stared, mouth hanging open at Eliot's statement.

Eliot sighed. "Look, I don't want you messing with this guy. If you see him again, tell me and I'll take care of it."

"How?" Tara piped up suddenly. Just when she thought she was used to the team's dynamic, something always happened to throw them off. First Sterling, now this Angel fellow.

Eliot looked at her sadly. "However I have to."

Nate cleared his throat. Hardison coughed. "So...um...Lindsey?" he questioned, forcing back a grin.

Eliot glared. "Hardison, I swear to God if you look into my past I will know and hunt you down. It _was_ my name. It's not anymore. Leave it alone and _don't_ investigate," he threatened, continuing to glare until Hardison swallowed and nodded his compliance.

Nate stood up. "Do you think he'll come back, this Angel character?"

Eliot nodded. "He'll hang around. Just ignore him. Now why don't y'all go down to the bar while I make a few calls," he ordered. Nate took one look at Eliot's face and nodded, ushering the team downstairs. If Eliot wanted to be alone to pull himself together, Nate was going to give him space.

As soon as the door closed behind them Eliot went to the bookcase and pulled out the books until he uncovered his emergency compartment. He pulled out the things he needed and quickly performed the uninviting spell on the apartment. It wouldn't do for Angel to be able to get in without him knowing about it. He carefully put everything back and pulled out his cell phone, dialing a number he knew by heart. It went straight to voicemail.

"Hey. It's me. Angel just came by my team's place in Boston. I don't know what he's doing here, but I don't like it. He said he needed my help, so it must be something big for him to suck up that big ego of his, but I don't trust him. Call me when you get this."

He hung up slowly, letting out a big sigh before following his team down into the bar. He hoped this didn't end with him having to explain the existence of the supernatural.

* * *

A/N: It's short, I know. It's just a start to see if I should continue. Review please?


	2. Faith

Disclaimer: Neither Angel or Leverage are owned by me. That's Joss Whedon and Dean Devlin's territory.

Convergence

Chapter 2: Faith

* * *

The next day everyone tried to put Angel out of their minds; mostly because it scared them that he scared Eliot. Eliot, however, insisted that they stick together and then spent all day looking over his shoulder discreetly anytime they were outside the apartment and peering into shadows carefully. The team tried to ignore this behavior, as they knew there was probably a perfectly good reason behind it, but it was hard to ignore Eliot acting so strangely. Almost like a hunted animal.

When they got back to Nate's place that night they walked in to another surprise visitor, although this one was not a man brooding by the window but rather a young brunette woman sitting on the couch watching television and drinking Eliot's beer.

Another difference was the way Eliot reacted. He smiled. This was a rare enough occurrence that the rest of the team had to wonder what was going on with Eliot this week.

"I said call me back, not drop by to visit," he addressed her and she stood up, grinning at him as he gathered her up in his arms for a hug.

"I was around," she replied, stepping back a little, although Eliot still had his hands rested at her waist. Eliot raised and eyebrow and she laughed. "Okay, so I was a few states away. Maybe in Chicago. So...introduce me to the team."

Eliot shook his head at her and turned to the team, still smiling a little. "Right. This is Hardison, Parker, Nate, and Tara, who's standing in for Sophie," he said, pointing at each of them in turn. "Guys, meet Faith. She's...an old friend..." Eliot's mouth twitched slightly at the statement and Nate wondered how exactly they knew each other before deciding he probably didn't want to know.

Faith grinned cheekily. "Lindsey, here...actually, it's Eliot, isn't it?" she corrected, looking over at Eliot, who nodded, "Anyways, he called me about Angel. I came to see what was what."

Nate nodded slowly, guessing that they knew each other from around the same time that Eliot knew Angel, if she knew him by the same name.

The truth was that a few years after the battle in L.A., Eliot had met up with Faith while working a job. At first they had been wary of each other, but after helping each other out of a series of strange circumstances that ended in some not-so-pretty pictures, they had decided to keep in touch (even if their previous encounters had never ended well). Faith worked slightly separately from Buffy and the others for the most part and called Eliot whenever she needed a little help or a bit of spellwork (which he had become quite adept with while at Wolfram and Hart) and whenever Eliot needed some extra muscle on a job, he called Faith (she was, after all, a slayer). It worked out well and by now they trusted each other enough to watch each other's backs.

Eliot turned to Faith. "So, do you know why he would be here?"

Faith shook her head. "I haven't heard anything from B or Xander in a while, so there's nothing incredibly urgent on that front, and Angel tends to stay separate from the rest of us. I haven't heard from him in eight years. Not since L.A. And we used to be pretty tight. So I don't know what's going on. But I know I don't like it, Linds. Bad things follow that man around."

"That's what I'm afraid of..." Eliot replied quietly, sitting on the couch. Faith plopped down next him, leaning on his shoulder and picking up her beer. The team sat down too, watching the exchange with interest but afraid to butt in.

"I'll look around tomorrow. See if I can find where Angel's lurking." Faith announced, settling into Eliot's side as he nodded, leaving the others to wonder what exactly their relationship consisted of.

Parker turned to Eliot. "Is she your girlfriend?" she questioned expectantly.

Eliot and Faith looked at each other and burst into laughter. Everyone stared in wonder at them. Eliot never laughed that loudly and it was actually slightly disturbing to watch. Faith calmed down slightly quicker and managed to gasp out a quick "No" before burying her head back into Eliot's shoulder for another round of giggles while Eliot finally sobered up, shaking his head silently.

"But-you're all...clingy..." Parker replied, scooting a little closer to the pair.

Eliot just grinned at Parker quietly and opened another beer. He gently swatted Parker's hand away when she reached out slowly to poke at him in wonder, causing Faith to start laughing again.

The rest of the night passed fairly uneventfully as the team sat in the living room with Faith exchanging stories about jobs they'd pulled (minus the demonic components on Faith and Eliot's parts) and eventually falling asleep on the couches.

* * *

When Eliot woke the next morning he had to fight back to urge to lash out at the weight of Faith on one side and Parker on the other. He slowly opened his eyes and chuckled quietly at the two sleeping girls, Faith still curled against his left shoulder and Parker with her head in his lap curled up between him and the arm of the couch on his right. He tried to get up without jostling them, but gave up when Parker whimpered quietly as he tried to resituate her. He sighed and laid back against the couch, closing his eyes again.

Nate woke up next. Eliot lifted his head slowly when he heard Nate stirring and grinned. Nate shook his head at Eliot with the two girls and stood up, yawning and moving into the kitchen to start the coffee. Eliot looked back down at the sleeping girls, contemplating just waking them up so that he could prepare breakfast.

"Mornin'," Hardison announced quietly as he blinked awake from his armchair.

"That it is..." Eliot replied as he looked over at Hardison, who was raising an eyebrow at the picture in front of him. Eliot shrugged, the movement seeming to shake Faith awake, as she was suddenly on her feet and stretching. Slayer speed. Eliot was almost worried, but Hardison didn't seem to notice in his half-awake state. "Mornin', sunshine," Eliot greeted cheekily. Faith to flipped him off good-naturedly as Hardison looked on in amusement. He kind of liked this Faith chick, even if he was suspicious of her abilities as a Hitter. She was so small, but her stories had given the impression that her job was the same as Eliot's. He couldn't quite buy into the idea that Faith would be able to hold her own against the types of guys Eliot took down on a regular basis.

"Coffee?" Faith asked and Hardison pointed towards the kitchen. Faith walked in that direction as Tara started shaking herself awake from the other couch.

"Aw. That's so cute," Tara cooed at Eliot and Parker, seeming to come instantly awake instead of going through the awkward post-sleep phase.

"Shuddup..." Eliot grumbled, shifting as much as he could without waking the sleeping thief on his lap.

Tara laughed as Nate and Faith came back in from the kitchen. "Lindsey, I was thinking about hittin' the typical hidey-holes today and hunting down Angel. Finding out what he's up to and all," Faith said, plopping down next to him with her coffee.

"Sounds like a plan," Eliot replied, "You wanna go alone or should I come?"

Faith looked down at Parker, "Looks like ya have you're hands full already, Linds."

Eliot laughed, "Just call when you find him. I really wanna beat his face in..." Nate glanced up at Eliot sharply. "What?" Eliot protested, "He's tried to kill me many, many times. He deserves to get his face beat in."

Nate, Hardison, and Tara all looked at Eliot with looks of mixed confusion and horror. Apparently this Angel character had a grudge against Eliot, which begged the question of why he had asked for his help. But even in the face of this new danger, that did seem to actually scare Eliot somewhat, he seemed so much lighter than normal, Nate mused, since his comment had been delivered almost happily. He figured that it had something to do with Faith, who seemed to be a close friend, but it was strange how Eliot's entire demeanor had changed when these two people had arrived. He almost seemed younger; like seeing these people took him way, way back in time. It was a strange mixture; him being so on-guard yet more carefree and Nate was intrigued by the idea of a past that could create bonds like these: an actual friendship with Faith and a trusting albeit unhealthily antagonistic relationship with Angel.

"Well, I'd best get going. Got a crazy man to hunt down," Faith announced, breaking through Nate's musings.

"See you later," Eliot called after her, resisting the urge to tell her to be careful. She was a Slayer, after all, and she had known Angel longer than he had. She could handle herself.

Before anyone got a chance to say anything else, Parker started to stir, stretching out and yawning as she rolled onto her back, blinking up at Eliot's face with a sleepy grin.

"Mornin', sweetheart," Eliot greeted casually.

"Good morning," Parker replied, pushing herself up to sit cross-legged on the cushion beside Eliot. "What'd I miss?"

* * *

Eliot busied himself the rest of the morning by cooking omelets for the team and then going through a few exercises to keep himself limber and ready for anything that Angel or whatever the vampire was after could throw at him. He considered digging out his old spell books and demon guides, but decided that they would raise too many questions, so they stayed under the floorboards in the pantry in his kitchen (which he'd added on behind Nate's kitchen after complaining about the space and layout of Nate's).

He made sandwiches for lunch and watched Hardison play World of Warcraft. Parker busied herself picking her way through a box of locks while Nate went through potential client files and Tara read a book by the window. Eliot was actually surprised that Tara had stayed at Nate's, as she usually disappeared when there was nothing urgent to work on, but he figured that him being on edge had put everyone else on edge as well, since they seemed intent on staying close to him.

It was late afternoon before Eliot's phone rang. "Yeah?"

"Linds? I found him. Haven't actually made contact yet, but I know he's here," Faith's voice came through. She sounded fine, so Eliot figured it hadn't actually been that hard to find him. Angel was either getting sloppy or cocky. It was hard to tell which, although the later seemed more probable.

"Great. Give me the address," Eliot replied, grabbing his keys on the way out the door, unconcerned with the rest of the team looking after him in confusion.

* * *

"Really? A crypt?" Eliot questioned, looking up at the structure incredulously.

Faith shrugged, "Nothing like the classics."

Eliot snorted. "Guess not..." he replied, pushing the door to the crypt open. He shut it behind him and glared at the figure in the corner. "Angel."

"Aw. Did little Lindsey have to bring back-up?"

Eliot snorted, "Think what you want, Angel. I'm just here to figure out why the hell you won't leave my city."

Angel laughed, stepping closer so that Eliot and Faith could see him, "Your city, Lindsey? Really?"

Eliot stepped right up to Angel, pushing down the fear that the man was somehow still able to instill in him. "Yes. Leave."

"Hmmm. No. I have work to do here, Lindsey. Important stuff."

Faith pushed her way between the two, separating them before they tried to kill each other. "Calm down, boys, let's talk this out," she urged as they glared at each other over her head.

"I'm perfectly calm, Faith. But tell me, why are you hanging around with him?" Angel growled out.

Faith ignored Angel, simply looking at Eliot until he nodded his agreement to be more civil. She took her hands from their chests and stepped out of their way, looking ready to jump back in at any moment. "Why are you here Angel?" she finally asked, turning her gaze towards the vampire.

"I'm looking into some things. But I've decided I don't need any help, so you can move along now."

Eliot narrowed his eyes. Leave it to Angel to decide he didn't need help and run off to get himself killed. Eliot didn't really care about Angel's survival rates, but he did want to know what was going on in Boston that had caused Angel to make the trip. And to seek him out. He didn't want his team put in danger because of some demon, or the remnants of Wolfram and Hart. "What things?" he demanded gruffly, crossing his arms over his chest.

Angel just shook his head. "It doesn't concern you anymore," he replied, turning around suddenly and heading down into the sewers of Boston through a hole in the floor of the crypt as his coat flew behind him.

Eliot turned towards Faith, who cocked her eyebrow at him. "He always had an overdramatic flair," she remarked casually.

Eliot held back a laugh. "That he did…I guess we'll just have to sit back and wait for something disastrous to happen. I haven't noticed anything demonic lately, so I don't know what could have drawn him here."

Faith sighed, "Back to your team?"

"Guess so."

They made their way back to Nate's silently, Eliot lost in thoughts of what he could do to protect his team and Faith trying to remember the last time any of the so-called Scoobies actually got along with Angel.

* * *

A/N: Yay exposition! XD Review, please?


	3. Angel

Disclaimer: I don't own Angel or Leverage. That job is Joss Whedon's and Dean Devlin's.

Convergence

Chapter 3: Angel

* * *

When Eliot and Faith entered the apartment, everyone was where Eliot had left them. He hadn't actually been gone that long, but he was relieved that nothing had happened.

"Yay, Eliot's back!" Parker exclaimed, abandoning her locks in order to bound over to him. "Make pizza for dinner?"

"Sure," he shrugged, heading for his kitchen with Faith right behind him. Faith hopped up on the counter as Eliot got out the ingredients for homemade pizza. He was used to Parker's dinner requests by now and he kept everything he'd need to make any of them handy at all times.

After a few minutes of companionable silence during which Eliot disabled all of Hardison's little eavesdropping gadgets and shut the door, Eliot turned to Faith. "Why do you think Angel tracked me down to ask for help in the first place?" he questioned. It had been bugging him ever since it had happened. Mostly because Angel had ordered that Eliot be killed. It was by sheer luck that Eliot had put on a semi-bulletproof armor-like vest on under his shirt for protection that had mostly stopped the bullets (although not completely; he'd still had to dig them out with a pair of needle nose pliers he'd had handy), but Angel shouldn't have know Eliot was still alive. And even if he had known, there was no reason to seek Eliot out. Not after everything that had happened, and not after so many years.

Faith looked thoughtful. "I have no idea. I mean, he should think you're dead. And he doesn't like you…" She shrugged, "But he's not on speaking terms with any of the Scoobies. After the Battle of L.A. he disappeared. None of us have seen or talked to him in at least three years. For me, eight. It's like he dropped of the edge of the earth. Maybe he found out you were alive somehow and figured you'd be more willing to help than anyone else he knew. Or maybe you were just in the area."

Eliot's brow furrowed in thought. "So after L.A. he dropped contact with everyone?"

"Yeah. The last person that saw him was Xander. Angel took a chunk out of his neck before disappearing again. Very anti-social of him, don't 'cha think?" Eliot nodded. "That was three years ago," Faith continued, "Before that, Spike ran into him in Nepal. They talked long enough to insult each other before parting ways. And B saw him from a distance seven years ago, but he was gone before she could get to him. Before that he'd called a couple of times to tip the gang off on something. The guy's been mysterious. More so than usual for him. None of us are even sure if he's one of the good guys anymore. Point is, no one trusts him. Maybe he figured you were as good a bet as any. Maybe better, since he would have no way to know you were in contact with any of us. I mean, you only actually know me."

Eliot turned that over in his head for a while as he finished preparing the pizzas in silence. He put them in the oven and set the timer before turning back to Faith. "That actually makes sense, in a way only Angel could make sense of. But we still don't know why he's here."

"But we should really try to figure that out. I should call HQ and tell them about the whole 'seeing and talking to Angel' thing. It's kinda a big deal," Faith replied, hopping down from the counter.

"It's strange," Eliot replied carefully.

"What is?"

"You say he's been different, distant, violent, mysterious, whatever; but he seemed pretty much the same to me…"

"Maybe it was because of your pretty face," Faith replied teasingly before shrugging. "I dunno, Linds. Like you just said, Angel only makes sense to Angel."

"You might be onto something, though. Back in L.A., when he wanted to let out more of his dark side while he was dealing with Darla and Drusilla, he wanted to be able to do things he knew others wouldn't approve of, so he got rid of all his friends. Told them to go away, kept them at arms length, you know? Like he was severing his contact with actual humanity. So maybe he's been trying to stay away so that he can keep up the whole dark-side lone wolf thing, although I don't know why he'd want to. But if that's the truth, then seeing me again, and you, and us acting like we used to back in L.A., that would bring back a little of his old personality. Which is probably why he told us he'd changed his mind about needing my help. For some reason, he _wants_ to be closer to Angelus, or at least be free to let out some more violent tendencies."

"Now that's a scary thought," Faith replied cautiously, "What could he have stumbled upon to make himself feel that way?"

Eliot shrugged. "No clue, but you said he's been distant since the battle in L.A., or whatever, but I think it started before that. That last year, when he was at Wolfram and Hart, he was distant. When I came back all his friends were worried about him; about what he'd been doing. None of them knew what was going on with him. None of them knew about his plan, and he kept it that way. He was so focused on bringing Wolfram and Hart down that he forgot about everything else, it seemed. And he sent everyone out to their deaths. Especially me."

"Yeah, I heard about that from Spike. But that doesn't tell us anything about what could be going on in his head now."

Eliot sighed. "Not really."

"Well, I'll call HQ and report in and explain what we just talked about, although I guess I'll leave you out of it. They don't need to know you're alive unless this gets out of hand."

"Do they even know about me in the first place?" Eliot questioned.

"Well, yeah. Spike, Illyria, Gunn, and Wesley definitely do. And they've told the rest of the crew some of the stuff from L.A. that involved you, and definitely the part where you're supposed to be dead."

"Wait…when I asked about the outcome of L.A., you said that Wesley died." Eliot remarked, confused at the mention of him with the other three, very much alive members of Angel's old crew.

"He did. Willow brought him back. We kinda need him around," Faith replied with a grin, "He's a smart guy."

"Right. Of course," Eliot replied, glad that none of the rest of his team could hear this conversation. It would raise way to many questions from the thieves. 'Curious' was practically their job description.

"I'll just go out into the hallway to make the call," Faith announced, leaving the kitchen.

Eliot turned all of Hardison's equipment back on and leaned back on the counter, waiting for the pizza to finish in the oven as he mulled over their conversation.

* * *

It was half past nine and the team was playing charades. Parker was trying to convey a movie that none of them were sure they'd even heard of when there was a harsh knock at the door. Eliot quickly made his way over before anyone else on the team had time to move. He opened the door to a beaten-looking Angel leaning against the doorframe.

"Can I come in?" he panted, looking very pained. Eliot couldn't tell if it was because of the injury or the fact that he was here about to ask for help again.

"Nope," Eliot replied with a slight grin. The rest of the team and Faith moved up behind him to see what was going on.

"Come on, Lindsey. I'm bleeding out from the stomach here!"

Eliot looked down at Angel's hand pressed into what was definitely a gaping stomach wound. "You kinda deserve it," he replied, still grinning with what Nate could only describe as 'sadistic pleasure'. He was slightly horrified at this side of Eliot. He knew that Eliot's past was shady and that he used to kill people for a living; but there was a difference in _knowing_ something like that and seeing that Eliot, a guy he generally liked and respected, was completely capable of killing someone (or watching someone die) and enjoying it.

"What did I ever do to deserve this?" Angel exclaimed, glaring up at Eliot from his hunched over position. The stomach wound was looking slightly better, and Eliot silently cursed Angel's vampire healing.

"Do you really want a list, or should I just point out the most obvious reasons?" Eliot growled back.

"Just…let me in," Angel bit out.

"No."

"What the hell's your problem?" Angel hissed.

Eliot just glared back. The stomach wound was really looking a lot better. There wasn't nearly as much blood dripping out to stain Nate's doorstep. Eliot took a few seconds to banish his disappointment that Angel would be fine by morning. "Goodbye, Angel," he announced before slamming the door shut. He turned around to see the team gaping at him and Faith rolling her eyes.

"You're just going to let this guy die on my doorstep?" Nate questioned, startled at the way Eliot was so cavalier about this, especially when he usually hid his darker personality traits from the team.

Eliot glanced back at the door. "He'll be fine. He's not gonna die on your doorstep."

"The guy looked like he'd been impaled!" Hardison sputtered.

Eliot shrugged, "It wasn't as bad as it looked."

"Why was he here?" Faith interrupted before anyone else could continue the protests.

"If it was important, he'll still be there in the morning," Eliot replied casually as he walked back to the couch.

Faith thought it over a bit. "Probly," she agreed, taking her seat next to Eliot.

Nate watched the two carefully. They seemed so unconcerned for this Angel guy's well-being that Nate couldn't help but wonder if the guy was just overdramatic. Or if they knew something the rest of the team didn't/ He looked at Parker, Hardison, and Tara for help.

Parker recovered first. She couldn't see a reason to be worried if Eliot wasn't, so she bounded back over to the couches and continued her turn at charades. Tara glanced at Nate. "If Eliot's not worried…" she trailed with a shrug before going back over to the game. Nate and Hardison followed after her dumbly. Nate wasn't sure he liked this version of Eliot.

* * *

Eliot forced everyone to stay at Nate's apartment again, unwilling to take the chance that Angel would jump someone as they left. In the morning he woke up early and checked outside the front door to see that Angel was still curled up on the floor. Since no one else was awake he snuck out the side door to go to the butcher's shop and buy pig's blood. He had made a resolution the night before to be nicer to Angel after seeing Nate's reaction to his behavior, even if Nate wouldn't know about the blood thing. He realized that Nate knew more about his past than the others, but he was sure that Nate (and everyone else) didn't know about the more supernatural elements of it. Mostly because he was sure no one else on the team believed they could exist.

When Eliot got back to Nate's everyone was milling around the apartment already. Eliot was grateful that he had the blood in brown paper sack that they couldn't see through.

"Where'd you go, Eliot?" Nate questioned.

Eliot shrugged, "Picked up some stuff for breakfast. Who wants pancakes?"

"Me! Me! Me!" Parker exclaimed, throwing her hand up in the air as she jumped up and down next to Hardison.

Eliot grinned, "Good, I'll get those started up." He walked through into his kitchen, setting the blood by the microwave.

"That's not pancake ingredients," Faith announced as she came into the room. Eliot made a shushing motion.

"It's for Angel," he replied shortly.

Faith made an 'O' shape with her mouth and then grinned as she realized that it was a peace offering. Leave it to Eliot to be able to change and adapt better than a guy that had been blending in for 250 years. "Why?" she questioned, wanting to hear him say it.

Eliot shrugged, mixing the pancake batter, "I've resolved to be the bigger person and try to be nicer."

"Good for you," Faith replied with a happy grin.

"But if he starts something, I can't guarantee I won't kill him," Eliot added, turning on the stove and getting out a basket for the pancakes. "So, what did the gang say when you called them?"

"Ah, yes. Well, they said that if things got out of hand they'd come down, but other than that just to watch our backs. None of them really want to deal with him. "

Eliot nodded, "Sounds reasonable. I don't really want to deal with him either."

They finished making the pancakes in silence and Faith took them out to the team. Eliot heated up a cup of the pig's blood in the microwave, grimacing slightly as he hid the rest in the back of the refrigerator. He picked the coffee mug up gingerly and made his way into Nate's apartment.

"Thanks, Eliot," Parker chirped from her seat.

"Sure," he replied, making his way back to the front door.

"Where you goin'?" Hardison questioned before he could open the door.

"To get Angel. He's still in the hallway," Eliot explained before turning back to the door. He slipped outside before anyone could say anything else.

Angel jerked awake as soon as the door closed. "I see you're still here," Eliot said, handing him the mug.

"What's this?"

"Pig's blood. I got it this morning."

"Oh," Angel replied, curling his fingers around it, "Thanks."

"Welcome."

There was a pause. "…It's not poisoned is it?"

Eliot snorted. "No. If I wanted to get rid of you, I'd dust ya."

Angel didn't reply, which threw Eliot off. He watched as Angel started sipping the blood quietly. Usually by now there would be insults flying through the air, but Angel wasn't even trying to piss Eliot off. It was a new development. Eliot figured that maybe Angel had made the same resolution he did, although it was surprising that Angel would suck up his pride enough to do so. As long as it made his life easier in the foreseeable future, he couldn't say he minded, but he was still on guard. The guy _had_ made it his goal to make Eliot's life miserable back in L.A.

Eliot was brought back to reality when Angel stood up and handed him the mug. Eliot noticed that he was pretty much completely healed, even though his shirt was still ripped where he'd been stabbed.

"So…can I come in now?" Angel questioned, sticking his hands into his pockets awkwardly.

"Two conditions. One: you don't try to hurt any of my team. Two: you explain what the hell is going on. Oh, and they don't know about all this supernatural crap, so you keep that between you, me, and Faith, got it?"

Angel nodded his acquiescence. "Okay. I can do that."

"Good."

"Good."

"So, what changed?" Eliot asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Faith said you've been mister mysterious since L.A. Why change that now?"

"Oh. That. It…I needed help, and I don't get along with anyone else anymore because of…I just figured that since we never got along, I couldn't ruin anything further by asking you."

"What happened?" Eliot ventured hesitantly, noticing Angel's slip-up.

"I don't want to talk about it."

That Eliot could understand. But there was one other thing he'd been wondering. "How'd you know I was alive?"

"Saw you in L.A. last year. You were with that blond, the one that let me in?"

"Parker?"

"Yeah."

"…And the new attitude?"

"I decided that if I wanted your help, I'd have to be much, much nicer," Angel replied with a smirk. There was another silence. "So…can I come in?"

Eliot thought it over. He wanted to know what was going on, and as long as Angel was willing to try to get along, he couldn't see much harm in it. "Sure. But one wrong step and you're uninvited again."

Angel nodded in agreement and Eliot opened the door.

"You can come in," Eliot invited. If Parker's invitation was good enough, so was his. They all practically lived there anyways.

Eliot followed Angel inside, shutting the door quietly and leading him towards the table where everyone was sitting.

This was going to be interesting.

* * *

A/N: There we go. Chapter 3! P.S. I'm kinda working under the impression that Lindsey was 28 or 29 in Season 5 of Angel, so eight years later he's in his mid-thirties, 36 or 37.

Please review! What do you think Angel has found in our lovely city of Boston? Virtual pie to anyone who guesses right!


	4. Introductions & Information

Disclaimer: I don't own Angel or Leverage. They belong to Joss Whedon and Dean Devlin.

Convergence

Chapter 4: Introductions & Information

* * *

Eliot headed directly to the sink to wash the blood residue from the coffee mug, unwilling to let it sit any longer than it already had. After methodically cleaning the mug for a few minutes, he turned back around to see the team and Angel in what seemed to be a staring contest. He cleared his throat. "Team, Angel. Angel, my team."

Faith raised an eyebrow and leaned back in her chair. Eliot leaned over to whisper in her ear what had happened in the hallway and she nodded in understanding. He gathered up the team's dishes and went back to the sink to clean.

"Been a while, Angel," Faith said, looking over at him.

Angel nodded. "Eight years."

Nate cleared his throat, deciding to be as civil as possible to this guest they knew nothing about. "I'm Nate," he introduced before pointing to the other team members in turn, "This is Hardison, Tara, and Parker."

Eliot finished with the dishes and stepped back over to the table. "Angel's agreed to play nice," he explained to his team, "but don't provoke him." He directed the last part to Parker and Hardison. He glanced at Faith then turned back to the team. "Angel, Faith, and I have things to discuss, so we're going upstairs. No eavesdropping." He glared at Hardison to get his point across.

"Got it, man. I don't wanna be in your super-secret hitter's club anyways," Hardison grumbled before heading over to the televisions.

"'Super-secret hitter's club'…?" Angel questioned.

Eliot shrugged, barely hiding his amusement at Hardison's never-ending antics. "Let's go."

* * *

The training room was not bugged. Eliot had told Hardison on no uncertain terms that if he ever found a bug in there he would break Hardison's fingers. The training room was sacred to Eliot as his space and his only. Hardison, of course, hadn't listened but after Eliot had found the bug and threatened his teammate to within an inch of his life, Hardison had sworn never to do it again. Eliot had made the concession of a single camera in the corner just in case they ever needed it, but that was all that was in the room as far as security went. Eliot unplugged it.

"So, Angel. How 'bout you explain why you're here," Eliot suggested, leaning against the wall.

"Why are you here?" Angel retorted, "What exactly is it you do?"

Eliot grinned despite himself, "I'm here because my team's here."

"And your team does what?"

Eliot rolled his eyes. Trust Angel to try to turn things around on him. Eliot knew he was fishing for information, but if they were going to be working together against…whatever it was Angel had tracked down (he really needed to figure out what it was that had beaten him up 'cause whatever it was, it was dangerous), Angel would find out everything about him and his team eventually. It couldn't hurt. Besides, he could rub it in. "Well, I kinda have your gig now," Eliot replied with a grin.

"What do you mean?" Angel questioned while Faith laughed.

"We help people. People that can't take care of their problems themselves. Sound familiar?" Eliot replied happily.

"But you said they didn't know about—"

"Ah. Yes, well, we take down…the rich and powerful. People that can't be touched by the law."

"But if they can't be touched…?"

"We get to them through…other means. Basically, we're a group of thieves that works on an alternate revenue stream in order to help people that can't hire the help they need," Eliot explained, quoting something Nate had said to multiple clients.

Angel blinked, "So, still a criminal?"

"Hey, at least I help people. But yeah, thieves."

Angel turned to address Faith, "And why are you here?"

"Linds called me after you showed up. He was wondering if I knew what was going on with you. Which I don't. Because you disappeared on us. All of us."

"I know," Angel replied softly, "It was for the best."

Faith and Eliot looked at each other. Angel had always been more willing to throw himself under the bus than other people, but the length of time he had been gone this time was new. Finally Faith shrugged, "Whatever, Angel. Now care to explain why you're here? Because it seems to be bigger than something you can handle by yourself."

Angel looked between them before nodding. "I was tracking supernatural activity in this part of the U.S. There's been a significant increase over the last ten or so years and I was wondering what could be causing it. Boston seems to be the center of it."

"But I've been here for almost a year and I haven't seen anything overly demonic. I mean, the occasional low-level demon or spell-gone-haywire, but nothing big," Eliot interjected.

"It's not obvious," Angel replied, "There's a lot of supernatural activity driving other things that aren't so supernatural. It's all under the surface. So I came here to figure out what was causing it."

Eliot frowned. If what Angel was saying was true then his team might have run into something that had had an underlying supernatural element that he hadn't noticed. He was getting rusty.

"So…what is it?" Faith questioned.

Now it was Angel's turn to frown. "I can't be sure. I can't get close to them. They're incredibly protected and very smart; untraceable if you're not looking for it, which is probably the only reason you didn't notice anything," Angel explained, nodding towards Eliot, "But I think it's a coven."

Eliot blinked. "A coven? Like…a coven of witches?"

Angel nodded, "With Wolfram and Hart level security and objectives."

"So, what you're saying is that there's a Wolfram and Hart level coven of evil witches headquartered here in Boston?" Eliot asked incredulously.

Angel nodded.

"Seriously?"

"Yes. I have yet to get close to them, but the idea fits. Most of the supernatural activity looks like the product of spellwork."

"Well, shit." Eliot ran a hand through his hair as his mind raced. He hated witches. They were hard to bring down because they were incredibly powerful once at the level where you'd need to bring them down. He was fairly proficient with witchcraft and spellwork, but nowhere near the level of anything that would get Angel worried like this. And he hadn't been practicing since joining the team, and only a bare minimum before that. He couldn't think of a way to help Angel without his team wanting to get involved, which meant that they would be exposed to a world Eliot deeply wished he had never been involved in. All he could do was keep them away from it as long as possible, but he knew them. He knew that they would investigate until they figured out what was going on. Which made Eliot remember Hardison. "Shit!"

"What?" Angel asked, startled at the outburst into the minutes of silence.

"Hardison. He's probably researching…"

"Is that a bad thing?" Faith asked.

"I mean, he's probably researching me. My past. We didn't say much, but 'Lindsey', 'Angel', and 'L.A.' are probably enough for him to stumble upon something I don't want him to see…"

"Is that really important right now?" Angel interjected, "I think what's important is if you two are going to help me."

"Yeah, we will," Faith answered for the both of them while Eliot continued to worry, "But shouldn't we call the others? I mean, coven of witches sounds like something we need Willow for. And some extra brains to pick."

"No! I mean, not while we're doing recon," Angel protested. It looked to Eliot like he was trying to put off seeing anyone else he knew as long as possible.

"Angel, this needs more than three people on it," Faith replied angrily.

"No. Not yet. Let's…figure out what exactly is going on before we call in the cavalry…"

"Okay," Eliot announced, "Angel, go get your stuff. You can set up in here. I'm gonna go make sure Hardison isn't digging into things he shouldn't."

"I'll go with Angel," Faith decided. Eliot nodded and she and Angel left.

Eliot sighed. This coven thing was big. He was pretty sure that it wouldn't be solved easily. But right now he had other things to focus on. Like stopping Hardison from investigating his past.

* * *

Sure enough, when Eliot entered Nate's apartment Hardison and the others were gathered around the screens where there were pictures of Eliot in his old life on display. "What the Hell do you think you're doin', Hardison?" Eliot yelled, quickly moving towards the hacker.

"I was just curious, man!" Hardison stammered.

Eliot growled and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt before pinning him against the wall. "Don't you think that if I wanted you to know about my past, I would have told you about it?" he yelled.

"Eliot, put him down!" Nate interjected, coming closer.

Eliot ignored Nate in favor of banging Hardison against the wall again.

"Hey! Hey, man. Calm down! I didn't mean nothin' by it!" Hardison protested.

"Damn it, Hardison! Stop pokin' around in things you can't understand!" Eliot exclaimed, letting Hardison go and stepping away.

"I understand perfectly, Eliot! You wanted to hide your past because you—"

"No, Hardison! You don't understand! You _can't_ understand!" Eliot yelled, heading towards the TV screens in order to turn them off.

"It's not that hard, Eliot," Hardison replied, walking over carefully, "Look, you used to be a lawyer. And you worked for some company called—"

"Hardison!" Eliot shouted. "Shut up! You don't understand what you're messing with! These people are—"

"Incredibly paranoid, man. I got nothin'."

Eliot glared. "Nothin' but trouble…" he mumbled. "Just—stop looking, okay!"

Hardison raised his hands into the air, backing away a little. "All I know is that your name was Lindsey McDonald, you grew up in Oklahoma, you went to Law School, and you worked at Wolfram and Hart. And that you have a very nice record of winning trials."

Eliot groaned, letting himself fall back onto the couch.

"Oh, and all the actual trial records are sealed."

"For good reason!" Eliot replied. "So that people like you can't investigate my past! Lindsey McDonald is dead, okay! He doesn't. Exist. Anymore."

"Okay, man. I'm sorry. I was just confused and—I wanted to know what was going on."

"This is _my_ past coming back to haunt _me_, I'll tell _you _things as you need to know them, okay?"

"Okay. Sorry…"

Nate cleared his throat. He was wondering what exactly Eliot was hiding that he felt was so important, but knew that if Eliot wanted to hide it there was probably a good reason. He decided to push a little further anyway. "What kind of lawyer were you?" he asked.

"Huh?" Eliot replied, looking up from where he had placed his head in his hands.

"What kind of lawyer were you?" he repeated. Maybe it was important.

"Oh. Uh—criminal defense," Eliot replied absentmindedly.

Nate rose his eyebrow. "And you won?"

"Mostly…" Eliot replied, holding back another groan. There was really no point in avoiding Nate's questions. They were pretty harmless.

"So…let me get this straight…" Hardison interjected, "Before you became a criminal…you made a living defending criminals?"

"Yeah," Eliot replied tersely.

"No, he's always been a criminal," Angel announced as him and Faith entered (and Angel had finally changed into something _not_ ripped to shreds, thankfully). This time Eliot really did groan, sinking back into the couch. "Now he's just more honest about it."

"Can we _not_ talk about this right this second?" Eliot asked.

Parker sat next to Eliot with a grin. "I used to be a diamond saleswoman," she announced. Everyone turned to her with a shocked look. "What?"

Nate shook his head to clear his thoughts. He was pretty sure that trying to keep up with what was going on was going to drive him crazy. And they already had Parker on the team, so they didn't need another crazy member. He glanced at Tara, who was silently absorbing everything going on, which was unusual for her.

"We put all the stuff up in your training room," Faith told Eliot as she plopped down on his other side. Eliot seemed to be getting sandwiched by the two crazy ones a lot lately.

"Thanks…" he replied, watching Angel out of the corner of his eye as he sat down in one of their chairs. Hardison sat down next to Parker.

"So what is it…that…you…uh…needed help with?" Hardison asked to break the silence, turning to Angel.

"We've got it under control for now," Eliot interrupted before Angel could say anything.

Nate sighed. This was turning into a _long_ few days...

* * *

A/N: I know this took longer than expected. I was having trouble getting everything to work properly, but I think I fixed most of the problems.

Thanks for reading! Tell me what you thought!


	5. Confusion & Complications

Disclaimer: I don't own Angel or Leverage. They belong to Joss Whedon and Dean Devlin.

Convergence

Chapter 5: Confusion & Complications

* * *

The next couple of days left Nate confused, to say the least. Eliot, Faith, and Angel tended to have hushed angry conversations that quieted when another team member entered. Eliot and Angel would then get into a staring contest that actually seemed to be a conversation held entirely through eyebrows and crossed arms. That staring contest would turn into an angry huff from one of them who would turn and walk in the other direction afterwards, usually yelling something along the lines of "Have it your way then!" over their shoulder.

This whole series of events always led to Hardison opening his mouth to ask questions and Eliot glaring at him until he shut it again. After one of these incidents, Hardison would sit at his computer, furiously typing away as if the answers could be found in all the places he'd failed to find them before. The whole thing was getting rather tiresome rather fast.

After the third day of this routine, Eliot approached Nate to inform him that he would be joining Angel on his "stupid-ass recon mission fueled by the dumbest plan I've seen since L.A." Nate just nodded along until Eliot and Angel left. Then he turned to Faith. "What's that all about?" he demanded, glaring down at the girl who was situated on his couch drinking Eliot's beer.

"What's what about?"

Nate motioned to the door, "Eliot and Angel? Recon? L.A.?"

Faith shrugged, turning away.

"Dammit, Faith! I need to know what's going on with my team! I've given you guys space, but it's time that I get some answers!"

Faith sighed, looking back up at Nate as the other three team members trickled in. "I can only tell you the basics. Lindsey…Eliot, I mean…he won't appreciate me telling y'all his history."

"I understand that. I just need to know more than I know right now," Nate insisted as him and the others sat down around her.

Faith rolled her shoulders, setting the beer on the table. It couldn't hurt to fill Eliot's team in on the very basics. She just hoped he wouldn't get _too_ incredibly mad at her for it. Besides, they'd probably find out eventually...but she'd leave out the demonic things for now. "So…Angel and Lindsey—he was still Lindsey then—they knew each other when they both lived in L.A. a while back. Lindsey worked at this law firm that Angel…didn't really get along with. He was a P.I. and tended to get their clients into trouble. Anyways, whenever they crossed paths, one of them lost. Usually badly. Usually Lindsey."

"Wait," Hardison interrupted, "Eliot used to lose?"

"He wasn't always such a badass. He used to be very…bookish," Faith replied with a grin.

Hardison and Parker looked incredibly surprised by this new information and looked about ready to interrupt again. Then they'd never get anywhere. So Nate interrupted them first. "And?"

"And…well. Wolfram & Hart, the law firm, it's not a very nice place. Eventually, Lindsey got tired of their bullshit and decided to leave. He went to Tibet, I think. Then Nepal."

"But Eliot hates Nepal."

Faith rolled her eyes at Hardison's interruption. "Yeah, well from what I understand the training he did there was entirely unpleasant. Anyways, it was around that time that he changed his name, to hide from the firm I think. He got wind of Angel heading up the revamped Wolfram & Hart and went back to L.A. I think he mostly just planned on getting payback for all the times Angel screwed him over, but he wound up getting drawn into one of Angel's crusades. Almost got killed because…well, it was a suicide mission to begin with, really. After that he became Eliot Spencer for good. Started pulling jobs. Made a name for himself. We'd run into each other sometimes, so we eventually made up for the crap we'd pulled on each other."

"What do you mean?" Nate asked.

"Well, I was kinda on Angel's side. I work with some colleagues of his from before L.A."

Nate nodded, trying to absorb what he knew was the very, very skeletal background of Eliot Spencer. "So…how come Eliot's even helping Angel now?"

Faith shrugged. "It's apparently what he does now," she replied, taking a sip of her beer.

* * *

Eliot and Angel got into the witches' compound fairly easily and approached the building quietly. So far it was going fine, but Eliot was uneasy with Angel at his back. He kept glancing over his shoulder to make sure Angel wasn't going to try and kill him suddenly, which meant he was spending less time watching his other surroundings. This was why he worked alone.

They had finally agreed earlier that they'd sneak into the security room and use the coven's own cameras to scope their complex and see how many there were. They finally got to the back door of the building, which led into a hallway that should lead them into the security room if what little information Angel had discovered was correct. Eliot turned and put his back to the wall. Angel rolled his eyes and motioned at the door. Eliot held a finger to his lips, listening for footsteps. When he heard none, he got to work on the lock. He wasn't as good as Parker, but he was decent enough to get the door opened fairly quickly.

They reached the control room without incident and Eliot nearly laughed at the complete _lack_ of security in place. There were two guards in the room. Eliot knocked them out in the span of the few seconds it took Angel to catch up with him. They closed themselves into the room in order to familiarize themselves with the equipment enough to find out what they needed. It was similar to other systems Eliot had seen, so it wasn't long until he found out how to switch through the cameras and change the angles.

"Guess if you're a powerful witch coven you don't think that you need good security," Eliot mused.

"Better for us, though," Angel replied, scanning over the computer screens.

They finally found a camera that was settled in what looked like a ritual room. There was a gathering of cloaked figures mingling around a table that held what looked like summoning instruments. "Well, they're going for the stereotypical look, aren't they?" Eliot joked as he counted heads.

Angel nodded, "I'm counting 23. You?"

"Yup. And there's probably more that are fledglings or underlings or whatever the Hell they call themselves."

"Is 23 a holy number?"

"How should I know?"

Angel shrugged, "Seems like the type of thing Wolfram & Hart would teach you."

"Oh, shut up," Eliot replied with a glare. "Let's get out of here."

"But we should—"

"No! Angel, there are 23 probably pretty powerful witches in that room. We need help. And a real plan. Besides, we've overstayed our welcome. Now let's go."

Angel sighed, but nodded and got up to follow Eliot out.

"Although we could use the building plans they have sitting right here on this laptop," Eliot announced as they caught his eye. It seems they had the building's layout up on screen for the security guards. These people were really lax on their security. But hey, if it made things easier for him, he'd take it. Eliot had taken to carrying around a flash drive since working with Hardison (they were apparently always useful for something) and he pulled it out now to make a copy of the files.

* * *

Faith had just finished kicking Hardison's ass at Dead or Alive when Eliot and Angel returned. "How'd it go?" she called from the couch.

"Fine," Eliot replied, "but Angel's an idiot."

"I was just explaining to Lindsey here that we need to act on this now."

"First we need to know what they're up to!"

"We can't waste time with that. We need to take them out."

"No, we need to know more about them first in order to plan appropriately."

"We need to stop them _now_, Lindsey. Not later. Now."

"We can't just go in guns blazing and hope for the best! Look at what happened last time! You didn't have a plan and it cost team members their lives. There's only three of us. Me, you, and Faith. As such, we need to come up with a _plan_ that gives us the advantage."

"I have a plan. The plan is to stop them."

"See, Angel? This is your problem. You never actually think things through. You rely on your stubbornness and pure dumb luck in order to come out on top. I'm telling you it won't turn out well!"

"He's right, Angel. We need an actual plan," Faith piped up. The rest of the team watched quietly from the sidelines as Angel and Lindsey yelled at each other and Nate couldn't help but wonder yet again what all of this was really about.

"We need to handle this quickly! That means that we go in and do whatever it takes to stop them! No plan needed," Angel insisted stubbornly.

"It's more dangerous to go in unprepared than it is to leave them alone for a few days while we come up with a fool-proof plan," Eliot tried to reason, crossing his arms as he glared at Angel.

"What is this really about, Lindsey? Because I don't think it's about my plan!"

"It is about your plan! Your plan isn't even a plan! It'll just get someone killed! Or are you forgetting what happened last time?"

"Oh, that's rich Lindsey! Bringing up L.A. again. You don't have the _right_," Angel hissed.

"Who died last time? Oh, that's right, Wesley did! Your _friend_ Wesley! Who you got killed!"

"He wasn't supposed to die!"

"But he did! Because of your stupid-ass plan!"

"It wasn't a stupid plan!"

"Yes it was! A plan without multiple contingencies is stupid! Taking on Wolfram & Hart head on was stupid!"

"You went along with it!"

"Yeah, I did! But you would have had me rotting in that Hell forever if I hadn't!"

"You were out!"

"Yeah, then you tried to have me killed! _After_ I had helped you with your stupid plan!"

"Yeah, but you wouldn't die…" Angel mumbled as the team took in Eliot's comment in shock. It actually explained a lot about what had been going on, but why was Eliot trying to help this guy at all if they had a history like this? What was so damn important that he was willing to put something like _that_ aside? Because Nate knew Eliot Spencer. And Eliot Spencer held grudges.

"What was that?" Eliot growled.

"You deserved it!" Angel yelled back, causing everyone to jump in shock. Hardison looked over at Nate, wondering if they should intervene.

"I deserved it? I was willing to help you! A guy who in no way deserved my help! Especially after all the shit you'd done to me!"

"Oh, that's just great coming from you! Which of us was evil?"

"You cut off my hand!" Nate heard the rest of the team gasp along with him at Eliot's revelation. What the hell was going on?

"You were asking for it!"

"Yes, a scroll is worth more than a man's hand!"

"A thousand year old scroll!"

"Yeah, that makes a difference!"

"It was the only way to save Cordelia!"

"That doesn't matter!"

"I can cut off your new hand if you want," Angel growled, fists clenching.

Eliot looked about ready to lunge, so Nate chose that moment to step in, putting a calming hand on Eliot's shoulder to keep him from attacking Angel. Eliot barely glanced at him, but relaxed enough that Nate stepped back again. This fight was the most confusing thing Nate had heard in a while. Eliot still had his hand, after all, so how could Angel have cut it off?

"Besides, if I remember correctly, you tried to have me killed first," Angel continued once they'd both calmed down a bit, sparing a glance for Faith.

"Yeah…sorry 'bout that," Faith chirped, trying to keep the mood a bit lighter now that they were no longer at each other's throats. It didn't work. And now Nate was confused again. If Faith was on Angel's side then how had she been hired to kill Angel? And hiring an assassin was not something the Eliot he knew would do. But Faith had said earlier that Eliot had changed a lot since becoming Eliot. There was obviously a lot more going on here than anyone on the team could have predicted. He shrugged when he saw the team looking at him for answers, brow furrowed. He had none.

"Well, if I remember correctly, _you _deserved _that_," Eliot responded, and they were at it again.

"I hadn't done anything to you!"

"You pushed my client out of a 40 story building!"

"Yeah—your _evil _client!"

Faith stepped in between them before they could come to blows. "Okay! That's enough! I'm calling Buffy."

"No one needs to call Buffy!" Angel practically bellowed, glaring down at her.

"I think she does," Eliot insisted, crossing his arms, "_Buffy_ actually knows how to _not_ get people killed."

Angel seethed. "You know, I really should have killed you myself instead of asking Lorne to do it. If you want something done right…"

Eliot growled and lunged past Faith as Nate tried to grab his shoulder again, stumbling forewords when he missed. Angel backed up quickly, trying to get out of Eliot's way, but he didn't move away in time and before anyone could really blink there was a knife in Angel's stomach, right below the ribcage. Nate briefly wondered where Eliot had grabbed it from that none of them had noticed but decided that was really the least of their worries. Tara and Hardison looked on dumbstruck as Parker let one of her disturbing sadistic grins creep across her face and Faith hid a smile behind her hand. Nate blinked a little at Faith's reaction. Why didn't she seem worried? Wasn't Angel her…friend, or colleague, or something?

Angel, for his part, looked incredibly surprised. "You—you _stabbed_ me!"

"Oh, stop your whining! You'll be fine," Eliot grumbled, yanking his knife back with a sickening squelching sound and glaring at Angel as he cleaned it off. "Faith, please go call Buffy. Angel, stay here and don't do anything stupid. If you try to leave, I swear the next thing I stab you with will be much more deadly." Nate wasn't really sure what could be more deadly than a knife, though he guessed that Eliot could have actually stabbed him through a major organ. But sometimes it seemed like him and Faith and Angel spoke in code. A code that Nate had no clue how to figure out. He was missing giant globs of pertinent information, he knew. He just wasn't sure how to get them.

Angel glared, but collapsed onto the couch silently, having finally lost the days-long argument. Faith looked back and forth between him and Eliot, as if making sure they wouldn't kill each other, before she turned to walk into the hallway, phone in hand; presumably to call this Buffy girl.

Eliot laid the knife on an end table and looked up at his team, as if just noticing they were there.

"Uh…" Hardison started, glancing between Eliot and Angel nervously, "What was that about your…um…hand? 'Cause it looks to me that you have two of 'em still."

"None of your business, Hardison," Eliot replied, moving over into his kitchen and shutting the door behind him.

Nate sighed. This was getting more confusing by the minute. He had known Eliot's past had been…shady, to say the least, but this was a whole new level of weird. This was much more insane and sordid that Nate would have ever thought and he was thinking now that what they knew just barely scratched the surface of the truth. Nate looked around the room as things started to calm down. Tara looked deep in thought as she moved over to the window, settling into the recliner she had moved over there for her reading. Parker sat on the couch, watching Angel intently as if hoping for him to do something interesting. All he was doing at the moment was holding a hand to his stomach and grimacing. And Hardison…was on the computer again, typing something into the search engine. Probably looking back into the past Eliot had been trying so desperately to hide.

But with Angel here it was beginning to look like the rest of the team would be learning more than they had ever wanted to know shortly. Eliot couldn't hide his past when Angel was here bringing it to the forefront. Nate sighed. He needed a drink.

* * *

A/N: Finally! Sorry about the wait. And I barely even edited this chapter. Seriously. I wrote this, looked over it, and posted it all within a couple hours after I finally got over Organic-Chemistry-induced writer's block. Anyways, I was kind of thinking I might like a beta for the rest of this story because it's hard to edit your own work all by your lonesome. So if you're interested please send me a message!

Oh, and please ignore any small mistakes.

EDIT: I read through this chapter and noticed a few (3) weird things, so I went back and fixed them. (Most noticeably, Faith agreeing to telling Eliot's story suddenly. I added in some thought process.) Anyways. Nothing major, just little bits 'n' pieces.


	6. The Cavalry

Disclaimer: I don't own Angel or Leverage. They belong to Joss Whedon and Dean Devlin.

Convergence

Chapter 6: The Cavalry

* * *

Things were tense the next day. Apparently Faith had convinced Buffy and her friends to come to Boston to help out with...whatever it was that was going on (Eliot still wouldn't let him in on that). Eliot and Faith pretty much locked Angel in Eliot's training room so that he wouldn't "do anything incredibly stupid and Angel-like." Faith and Eliot would take turns taking him things to eat and using the training room. Nate could have pretty much cut the tension with a knife.

To make matters worse, Eliot was in an _awful_ mood. Nate figured it was probably the stress of everything he had weighing down at him. But as much as Nate respected and liked Eliot, he was being downright scary. His default expression had always been a scowl, but now it was a full-on-I-will-kill-you-if-you-come-any-closer glare. Mostly directed towards Hardison.

Hardison really tried to ignore him, but Nate could tell the Hacker was reaching the end of his rope.

Tara excused herself from Boston for the next week (or until this was over and Nate called her back). She wasn't really attached enough to the team to be willing to deal with what was going on. It actually helped decrease the tension, so Nate was thankful.

And Parker...well, she was Parker. She'd been sticking close to Eliot like a burr, almost as if she thought he would leave at any minute. It was strange that Eliot either didn't seem to notice (unlikely) or completely ignored her. There seemed to be an unspoken understanding, through Parker's actions, that she was there for him. Every time he seemed to be getting too annoyed again, she was right there. It almost seemed like Parker was comforting him. Nate didn't know how good of a plan it was to take comfort from a crazy thief, but they had always seemed close. Like they got each other a little better that the rest of the team understood either one of them.

And to tell the truth, Eliot did seem to calm down a little when Parker stepped closer to him. Nate thought it was almost...protective. Like Eliot didn't want to hurt her, so he forced himself to become calmer when he realized she was still around. But whatever worked, Nate was just happy Eliot hadn't killed anyone yet.

Eliot was out for groceries when there was a knock on the door. Angel was upstairs with Faith and Nate, Hardison, and Parker were in the living room trying to figure out what was going on. At the knock, Nate looked up sharply. He shrugged at the others and went to open the door. Standing there was a petite blonde girl. He blinked.

"May I help you?"

"Buffy Summers," the girl introduced, holding out a hand that Nate shook hesitantly, "Faith called me. This is the right place, right?" Nate blinked again. What was it with Eliot and these tiny girls that could apparently do his job?

"Um. Yeah. Hardison! Go get Faith!" Nate called, wondering what this small girl could do to help the most dangerous guy Nate knew.

"May we come in?"

"We?"

"Yes," Buffy replied as others moved into view. A young guy with an eyepatch and a goofy grin, a tall bald black man, a shorter guy in a trenchcoat with bleached-blond hair, a girl around Buffy's size with bright red hair, and a librarian-looking fellow with glasses holding some books. All together, the array of people before him only served to confuse Nate more. "This is Xander, Gunn, Spike, Willow, and Wesley," she continued, pointing to them all in turn. Nate blinked again. Hadn't Eliot said something about getting Wesley killed? It seemed unlikely that this was a different Wesley, but it had to be. "So can we come in?"

"What? Oh, yeah. Come in," Nate invited, stepping aside to allow them through. As soon as they were all inside, Faith and Hardison appeared behind them, squeezing in through the doorway Nate was already closing.

"Heya, B," she announced, giving the girl a smile.

"Faith. Where's Angel?" Buffy replied, giving a small smile back.

"Upstairs still. We don't need him in the mix right now I don't think. He's on camera, though," Faith replied, pointing out the screen that Hardison had the training room camera feed up on. "Hey everyone," Faith greeted, to a myriad of replies. Xander and Willow waved while Gunn just nodded. Wesley said nothing and Spike grunted something about needing a punch in the face. Nate knew there was a story behind all of that, but he wasn't sure he wanted to know what it was.

"So how'd you find out Angel was here?" Buffy questioned as the rest of her team took seats on the couch and chairs to various degrees of gracefulness.

"Well, here's the thing," Faith started to explain before she was interrupted by the door opening for Eliot's return.

"Parker! Help me with these groceries!" he called, prompting Parker to appear out of nowhere in the living room, startling everyone. She smiled at the new people before running over to Eliot and grabbing the bags to put them away in the kitchen. "Thanks," Eliot acknowledged before turning towards their new guests. "Yay. The cavalry's here."

"It was your idea to call them," Faith pointed out, sitting on the arm of the couch next to a slouched and disgruntled looking Spike.

Nate noticed that everyone was staring at Eliot. Buffy, Xander, and Willow just seemed a little confused while Spike looked downright annoyed and Wesley and Gunn looked shocked.

It was Wesley who broke the silence. "Lindsey?"

"Nice to see you alive too, Wesley," Eliot replied with an eye roll as Parker reappeared behind his shoulder.

"Angel said he'd killed you," Spike mumbled half-heartedly from the couch.

Eliot snorted. "Whatever. And it's Eliot now. Not Lindsey. For what it's worth, he succeeded somewhat. Besides, Wesley's still alive, ain't he?"

Nate blinked. So, same Wesley then. This was getting stranger and stranger by the minute. Hardison gave him a look that said he thought so too.

"So...this is how you found Angel?" Buffy questioned after shaking herself out of the slight daze.

Faith nodded. "Eliot called me when Angel showed up asking for his help, of all things."

"Can we trust him?" Wesley questioned, looking at him skeptically.

Eliot growled. "I'm right here, you know."

"You can," Faith affirmed, "He helps me out all the time. Besides, this is big. We need all the help we can manage to get."

Buffy looked about ready to speak up again when Nate decided to interrupt. "Everyone stop for a moment," he announced, stepping into the middle of things. He turned to look at Eliot and Faith. "Now, I know that we've given you two time and space and haven't been asking questions, but we've come to the point where I can't do that anymore. I need to know what's going on."

"Nate, can't you just trust me on this and not ask questions?" Eliot replied, stepping forewords.

"No, Eliot. Not anymore. Whatever it is that's going on, me and Parker and Hardison need to know. We can't be left in the dark if it, whatever _it_ is, is as big as you're making it out to be."

"It's not—it's just—it's not _your_ kind of thing Nate."

"Doesn't matter. If it's going on in _my_ city and its affecting _my_ people, I need to know."

"Aw. He called us his people!" Parker exclaimed, latching onto Eliot's arm.

Eliot rolled his eyes at her, but didn't shake her off. He'd learned by now that it was hopeless. He sighed. "Fine Nate. You can stay and listen. But don't interrupt. You can ask questions later. But you _cannot_ get involved. Any of you," Eliot relented, glaring extra long at Hardison. It wasn't like Eliot had thought he could get away with not telling them, he just wished they could have kept it up a bit longer. He didn't want them getting involved, and he knew they'd try to, no matter what he said. But he also knew when to give into his nosey team.

"Thank you," Nate replied, surprised that it had actually been that easy to get Eliot to let them in on whatever was going on. He went to sit next to Hardison at the table by the stairs. Parker looked between him and Eliot for a moment before coming over and joining them.

No one spoke for a few moments. "Just—talk as if they weren't there," Eliot suggested, "they can put things together for themselves until I fill in the blanks later."

"Are you sure?" Xander questioned, "Getting civilians involved in this shit never ends well."

Eliot snorted. "They're not civilians. They're thieves." Nate huffed. He was most certainly _not_ a thief. For the most part. But Eliot had said not to interrupt, so he let it slide. Just this once.

"Right. As long as they don't make things difficult, its fine," Buffy said, turning to Eliot, "Now explain what's going on."

Faith stood up and took a place beside Eliot facing the rest of the group. It was almost like when Nate and Hardison briefed the Leverage crew. "We don't know much," she started, glancing at Eliot, "Angel's apparently been tracking supernatural activity here in Boston for years. He finally tracked down the cause of it. Then he came here to ask Linds for help." Had she just said "supernatural activity"? Because that, to Nate, made no sense.

Eliot nodded. "Needless to say, I was suspicious and called Faith. The two of us looked into all of Angel's information ourselves. It's legitimately scary."

"Could-possibly-become-a-Wolfram-&-Hart-level-threat scary."

There was the mention of Eliot's former employers again. That seemed to make Buffy and company worried if the glances they gave each other were any indication. But Nate was still confused, so he decided to just take everything in and not try to analyze it right this second. There was too much he could miss.

"What is it exactly?" Wesley questioned.

Eliot glanced over at his team and then Faith before clearing his throat to continue. "It's a coven. We're not sure how many there are total, but there's at least 23 powerful enough to be their 'upper level' or whatever they call it. Far as we can tell they've been around for decades overseeing pretty much any supernatural activity here in Boston. They also seem to sponsor a lot of the regular crime as well. Most of its pretty under-the-table too; under-the-surface even. There's a reason they've never dropped onto y'all's radar and that I haven't noticed them since being here."

"Yeah. Angel's tracked out everything they've done and it keeps getting bigger. If the trend goes on, they're going to be doing something pretty soon that will put them on absolutely everyone's radar."

"And it seems like they're planning something pretty big right now. We're not sure what it is, but we're pretty sure we should try to stop them before they can get it done," Eliot explained, sparing another glance for his team at the back table. Nate seemed to be concentrating hard on listening while Hardison simply looked dumbfounded. Parker, however, just seemed to be nodding along like she knew what they were talking about.

"Problem is, we can't think of any way to easily get rid of a coven of 23 and probably more evil witches," Faith finished with a sigh.

It was at this point that Hardison leaned over to Nate. "Uh…Nate? This stuff doesn't exist, right? This is a joke, right?"

Nate opened his mouth to answer, but Parker beat him to it. "Of course it exists! Why wouldn't it?"

"Uh…because its make-believe? That shit's supposed to be fictional!"

Parker frowned a little. "But...it would explain what happened in Guatemala! That guy was totally a vampire!"

Hardison did a double take. "Wha? Woman! They're talking about witches! They ain't said nothing about vampires!" he retorted, rather loudly, causing everyone in the room to look over at them. He looked away sheepishly.

"What's goin' on over there?" Eliot questioned as the rest of the group stared.

"Guatemala," Parker replied, "that guy was totally a vampire! Now it seems so obvious..."

"Uh...yeah. He was. How—"

"Wait a minute," Hardison interrupted, "when were y'all in Guatemala together?"

"Oh! After the team broke up," Parker answered happily, "I was bored and I saw Eliot and then we—"

"Parker! They don't need to know about Guatemala."

"Oh. Right. Sorry."

"Wait...what...who...when...whaaat?" Hardison stuttered.

"Do _all_ vampires turn to dust when you stake them through the heart?" Parker questioned, looking at Eliot hopefully.

"Yes," he replied. He'd been glad that Parker hadn't questioned anything at the time (you try explaining why some guy just turned into dust), but now was as good a time as any to explain if she was finally curious.

"Do you have to stake them with wood?"

"Yeah..."

"Oh. That makes sense, I guess," Parker concluded, causing Hardison to stare at her incredulously.

"Sorry to interrupt," Buffy announced, "but can we get Angel down here now? I think we should talk to him."

Faith nodded and turned to go upstairs and retrieve him.

"Wait. Is _Angel_ a vampire?" Parker questioned, turning again towards Eliot.

Eliot gaped. "Uh...yes...how did you _know_ that?"

"There's blood in the fridge," Parker replied, "Vampires drink blood, right?"

"Wait! There's _blood_ in the fridge? Since when?" Hardison shouted.

"Since Angel got here," Parker shrugged, "And he didn't die when Eliot stabbed him. So he must be a vampire."

Nate sat back and watched the conversation studiously, trying to follow everything that was going on.

"He wouldn't have died anyways, Parker. I don't kill people," Eliot replied, moving closer to table where his team sat. "Well. Not anymore," he amended.

"But in Guatemala—"

"Don't talk about Guatemala!"

Nate looked between Parker and Eliot with confusion. Obviously they had been spending a lot more time together than he thought. And what was this about Guatemala? Parker and Eliot continued to glare at each other until Faith came back with Angel in tow. He didn't look happy. Buffy and the rest of her crew were on their feet in an instant, looking wary.

"Well, looky who it is!" Spike said loudly, breaking Eliot and Parker's stare-off as Eliot turned to watch.

"Spike," Angel growled.

"Angel," Buffy interrupted, stepping in front of him.

Angel forced a smile onto his face. "Hey Buffy..."

"Let's talk," she ordered, pulling Angel into Eliot's kitchen and shutting the door.

Faith whistled lowly. "Hope they don't kill each other."

Eliot and Xander snorted in unison. "Fat chance..." Xander muttered, sitting back down. Everyone but Eliot followed suit.

Eliot looked over his shoulder as Parker snuck up behind him, poking at his right hand. "Is this the hand that Angel cut off?"

Eliot caught her hand, turning around to glare at her. "Yes. Stop poking at it."

Parker blinked at him, leaning closer, her face inches from his. "Are _you_ a vampire?"

"What? No!" Eliot replied, scowling at her, "Parker! Where would you get an idea like that?"

"Well, you heal fast. And you don't die, even when you've been shot five times. And you regrew your hand..."

"I didn't _regrow_ my hand Parker. A doctor attached a new one."

"Oh...how'd they do that?"

"Magic," Eliot replied, waving Parker's hand away as she reached foreword again.

Parker nodded, still staring at Eliot's hand. "So you're not a vampire?"

"No!" Eliot replied, looking around at Faith for help. She just grinned at him, so he turned back to Parker. "Vampires...they're not...they don't have souls, Parker. They're not people. And they can't go out into the sun."

"Hey!" Spike interrupted, "I resent that. I have a soul."

Eliot rolled his eyes. "Yeah, thanks to me."

"But you said..."

"I know. Angel and Spike have souls though. They're just...they're the exception."

"So Spike's a vampire?"

"Yes."

"But you're not?"

"No, Parker!"

Parker, nodded, still staring at Eliot's right hand. Eliot sighed and held his arm out for her to inspect. She picked up his hand and stared at it, fingers tracing the scar around his wrist. Hardison walked up behind her looking at it. "How'd they..."

"Like I said, Hardison. Magic," Eliot interrupted.

"So...they reattached your hand with magic?"

"No. They attached someone else's hand to where mine had been with magic."

"You mean...that's not your hand?" Hardison questioned in surprise, backing up. Parker leaned to inspect it more closely, grabbing Eliot's other hand to look at them side by side.

"No, it's not," Eliot affirmed, watching Parker closely.

"I can see it..." she whispered with amazement, "they look different..."

Hardison peered over her shoulder. "I don't see any differences."

"That's because Parker is more observant than you are," Eliot retorted, pulling his hands from Parker's grip. It's true they looked different, but the differences were so slight that you'd never find them unless you were looking for them. Parker pouted, turning back to go sit at the table.

Before Nate could completely reflect on what had just happened, Buffy came storming out of the kitchen to collapse into the couch next to Spike angrily. Spike rose his eyebrows as he looked over at her. Buffy shook her head dismissively and Spike shrugged, putting an arm around her shoulders and tugging her to him. She sighed, laying her head on his shoulder quietly. Nate knew there was a story there, but he wasn't sure he wanted to hear it if it was anything like any of the other stories he'd been hearing recently.

Before anyone could ask where he was, Angel stumbled back into the room. "A little help please?" he asked, turning so that they could see the knife around his kidney.

Eliot bit back a smirk. Wesley sighed and got up, heading over to help Angel remove the knife.

"Why is it..." Angel started, wincing when Wesley yanked it out, "...that people keep stabbing me?"

"Because you're a jackass," Eliot answered, still smirking slightly as he moved to grab the knife from Wesley. It was one of his good chef's knives, but he wouldn't complain about Buffy using it to stab Angel. It was certainly a source of entertainment for him, so he wouldn't mind cleaning the knife off either. He moved around Angel to the sink and turned on the water.

Angel glared at Eliot before moving into the living room. Buffy sat up as he entered her field of vision and Spike glared at him.

"Sooooo..." Angel drew out with a wince, "what's the plan?"

* * *

A/N: This is becoming an awful, awful habit isn't it? Sorry about the wait. I had problems figuring out how to finish this chapter until one of my friends brought up Guatemala...

And no, I can't tell y'all what happened in Guatemala. Even we don't know...

Please review! XD


	7. The Plan

Disclaimer: I don't own Angel or Leverage. They belong to Joss Whedon and Dean Devlin.

Convergence

Chapter 7: The Plan

* * *

Nate, Hardison, and Parker were forced to leave during the planning portion. Eliot didn't want them listening to the planning because "I don't want y'all getting involved in this." So Nate took Hardison and Parker out to eat at a family restaurant, where they did what most thieves do when bored: planned different ways they could crack the security systems around Boston. It never hurt to be prepared.

As soon as they left, the Scoobies' planning started. The whole thing gave Eliot a headache, so he excused himself to his kitchen to cook and clear his head. He left the door open so that their conversation—argument really—could filter in. Everyone seemed to disagree on one aspect or another, so not a lot of actual planning got done.

About an hour and a half into the useless session, Eliot was finished cooking. He gathered the first two trays in his hands and took them to the living room area, setting them down on the table.

"What's all this?" Willow asked in surprise as her stomach growled.

"Dinner," Eliot replied, going to grab the last few plates, balancing them carefully on the way back over.

"Thank you," Buffy said softly, reaching out to try some of the chicken.

Eliot smiled, returning with plates and napkins for the gang before going to get the jug of pig's blood for Spike and Angel, along with two mugs.

"Y'all want anything to drink?" Eliot asked, surveying the group to see that they were all enjoying their food.

"The water's fine," Buffy replied, taking some more food from the serving platters.

"This is really good!" Gunn exclaimed in surprise, going for more.

"Thanks," Eliot replied with a small grin, grabbing some for himself before they devoured it all. Even Spike tasted some of it, just to see what the fuss was about.

After they were all finished eating, everyone was in a much better mood and the planning went a lot easier. Eliot even managed to chip in without getting his head bitten off—figuratively or literally.

* * *

By the time the rest of Eliot's crew got back Angel was back up in the training room and everyone else was sitting around the living room laughing about something. Hardison looked over at Nate in surprise, who shrugged. Apparently Eliot could get along with other people after all.

When Nate looked back over at the group Parker was sitting next to Eliot on the table, leaning on his shoulder sleepily. Eliot's arm was wrapped casually around her shoulders, pulling her into him protectively. Obviously they had been doing a lot of bonding when Nate wasn't looking. Hardison looked a bit confused about it as well before he shrugged and went t o set up his computer at the table.

Nate shook his head. It had been a long day and what he really needed right now was sleep. "Eliot," Nate tried to get his attention, "I'm going upstairs to get some sleep. Try to keep things quiet." Eliot nodded in agreement before turning back to the group with a laugh at something Willow had just said about bad Latin translations. Nate turned and went upstairs, waving goodnight to Hardison. He needed to sleep before his head exploded from all the confusion and craziness of the past few days.

"So, what exactly is it you do now, Lindsey?" Gunn asked as soon as everyone calmed again.

Eliot laughed again, "You remember when we all broke into Wolfram & Hart to get those files on the—the psychic kids?"

Gunn laughed. "Yeah. Good times."

"I pretty much do that now."

"Steal things?" Wesley asked.

Eliot nodded, "If you want to simplify it."

"He punches things," Parker mumbled from his shoulder.

"He what?" Gunn questioned as Parker lifted her head from Eliot's shoulder.

"He's our Hitter. He protects us and hurts people. And gets shot at," Parker explained before leaning over onto Eliot again.

"Wait. You—the wimpy lawyer guy—make a living beating people up?"

"If you want to put it that way..." Eliot mumbled, "But you were there during that final Wolfram & Hart thing. I could hold my own back then."

"I guess. It's just—that's just weird, man," Gunn replied with a laugh.

"So what's the strangest thing you've ever stolen?" Xander asked.

Eliot looked over at Parker, who was paying attention again and grinning with an almost evil glee, "Well, in Guatemala…"

Eliot put a hand over her mouth to stop her from saying anything, "We stole the future once," he answered with a crooked grin.

"How do you do something like that?" Wesley asked.

"We were taking down this fake psychic, right? Guy was stealing people's life savings with his act…"

* * *

By the time Nate made it downstairs the next morning Eliot was serving French Toast to the teams. Nate yawned and headed for the coffee pot. Faith was standing there sipping her own cup. "Morning," she greeted as Nate poured some for himself.

He leaned against the counter next to her. "How's it going?"

"Can't complain."

Nate nodded, watching as Parker kept trying to sneak up behind Eliot and steal bits and pieces of his cooking set up (and failing). He chuckled as Eliot batted her hands away again and handed her a plate of French Toast and a shaker of powdered sugar. Nate immediately felt that this was a bad idea and moved to take it, but Parker simply shook out what looked like a cup of the stuff onto her food and handed the shaker back to Eliot with a peck on the cheek. Nate 'hmmm'd in surprise, taking another quiet sip of his coffee. Their relationship was getting stranger by the minute. Stranger than even the whole supernatural-is-real thing.

"You want any, Nate?" Eliot asked as he battered some more bread.

"Sure. Thanks," Nate replied, watching as Parker dug into her breakfast with a scary amount of relish, getting the powdered sugar all over her face.

Hardison was sitting in the living area on his computer, glancing up every once in a while to glare at Eliot, as if resenting him for bonding with Parker (no matter how…strangely they had done so). Nate was soon handed a plate of French Toast and he went over to join Hardison as Eliot took a wet towel to Parker's sugar-covered face.

"What are you doing?" he asked as he took his first (very delicious) bit.

"Looking for information on all this crazy talk online," Hardison replied, showing Nate his computer screen, filled with witchcraft websites and demon databases, "it's kind of scary to think that all this stuff is out there and we just never noticed."

Nate nodded and Hardison went back to his computer after sparing another glance for where Parker and Eliot were laughing with the other crew. It was strange how Parker was still clinging to Eliot, like she was afraid that once this was all over he'd leave with the rest of them, but Parker had never reacted to things like a normal person, so Nate figured that there was really no harm done. And Hardison would learn that he didn't need to be jealous of Eliot, as Nate was certain that their relationship was purely platonic brother-sister in nature. Even if they were…weird about it.

When everyone was finished with breakfast, Eliot enlisted Hardison to help clean up the kitchen. While they were doing that the rest of the crew gathered around Willow's computer looking at what looked like floor plans, probably for the 'Coven Headquarters,' as they had been calling it.

"Do you have any of the spelling ingredients we need?" Willow asked Eliot as he walked over from the now-clean kitchen.

Eliot nodded, "Just a bit of it. I can bring everything I have out here then we can decide what we need to find."

"Sounds good," Willow replied.

Eliot got up and went into his kitchen. Nate heard a few banging noises before him and Parker, who had apparently gone to help when no one was looking, came out with a few bags of what looked like herbs and other things and a couple of worn books in a language Nate couldn't read. "This is all I have right now," Eliot apologized, setting everything down on the table and motioning for Parker to follow suit, "I don't really keep stocked because the only reason I do any spellwork anymore is to heal injuries, which is pretty simple."

Willow nodded, sorting through some of the supplies in front of her, "You have a place close by we can get the rest?"

"I know a place."

"Me and Xander will go get supplies then," Willlow announced. Eliot nodded, writing some directions on a slip of paper and handing it to her. She marked supplies they already had from Eliot's kitchen off her list and then left with Xander.

"You use magic to heal yourself?" Nate questioned as soon as the door closed.

Eliot looked over at Nate sheepishly. "Only when I'm really badly injured and don't want y'all to know," he replied.

Nate supposed that that made sense. Eliot was the type of guy to hide his weaknesses anyways. "How often?" he questioned, wanting to know how often Eliot really was badly injured. He'd never really thought about how injured Eliot got on jobs because he never seemed that injured, but if he had been hiding it, that changed things.

"Nate…"

"How often, Eliot?" Nate demanded.

Eliot sighed, looking away. "Every few jobs…mostly just so that I'm in better shape in order to protect y'all. It's my job to protect y'all, and if it means getting beat on myself in the process, I'll do it," he replied stubbornly, "So don't you go changing the way you do things just 'cause you know now. I can handle it."

Nate nodded as Eliot crossed his arms and glared stubbornly.

"Well, now you don't have to worry about hiding it, and you never have to be injured, right?" Hardison asked from his chair.

"No, Hardison. Magic's a last resort. Healing on your own is always the better option. Then you know how to deal with it when magic isn't possible," Eliot replied, giving both him and Nate a look that said the conversation was over. Nate nodded, understanding Eliot's logic, but still upset by the fact that he had been hiding this from them, even if it was only to protect them.

"Well, if that conversation's over, can we get back to the plan?" Buffy asked as Faith and Angel came in from the training room.

"Please," Angel said, "we needed to have this done yesterday."

Buffy's whole team (plus Eliot) spared a glare for Angel before going back to the plans on the computer.

"We sure this will work?" Buffy asked Eliot.

"If Willow and I get the spell right…yeah, it should," Eliot replied, "Their security sucks. They're overconfident. That's their downfall."

"But like you said, we don't know how many there are outside of the leaders," Wesley reminded.

"I don't think the weaker ones will be a problem once we take out their leaders. They won't be able to organize themselves. If they do, we'll notice and be able to take them down too," Eliot replied evenly.

"Eliot," Nate interrupted, worried by the direction of this conversation, "are you talking about killing these people?"

Eliot shook his head. "No. We're sending them to an alternate…Hell dimension. If they die there," he shrugged, "not my problem." Nate didn't bother to mention that that was just as bad seeing as no one else seemed to think twice about it. These people were strange. And he included the nodding Parker in that equation.

"Y'all can do that?" Hardison asked in disbelief.

Eliot nodded. "If Willow and I get the spell right."

"Can someone explain to me why this plan is relying so heavily on _Lindsey_, who is, as I keep saying, _evil_ and none of you have a problem with it?" Angel interjected.

"If you don't shut up, I'm gonna stab you next," Gunn replied. Angel winced and stepped away from him.

"Let's try not to stab Angel again. We need him whole for this," Buffy input tiredly.

"Can we stab him afterwards?" Spike pitched in hopefully.

"If you're good."

* * *

When Xander and Willow got back, Eliot got to work helping Willow open up some spell books, carefully translating the procedures. Nate and Hardison watched in awe as they methodically set the circle up and started preparing the ingredients. Parker hovered behind Eliot, trying to read over his shoulder and looking on with interest at the ingredients.

"Is that _really_ a newt eye?" she asked, pointing at the ingredient Eliot was currently handling.

"Yes," Eliot replied, swatting her hand away for the hundredth time in the past ten minutes.

"Can I _touch_ it?"

"No."

Parker pouted, scooting closer to Eliot and setting her chin on his shoulder. Eliot rolled his eyes, but continued working on the spell.

"Almost ready?" Willow asked, looking over at him.

"Yup," Eliot replied, putting the finishing touches on his mixture.

"So what exactly is this for?" Nate questioned, looking skeptically at the setup.

"This will prepare the spell in an amulet," Willow explained, setting up some candles, "so that when we get the headquarters all we have to do is recite the incantation over the amulet and voila, instant portal to a Hell dimension."

Eliot nodded, setting the amulet they were using in the center of the circle and settling on the opposite side from Willow. "Parker, you need to wait away from the circle with everyone else," Eliot ordered, pushing the thief away from him for the first time Nate had seen in days.

Parker joined everyone against the wall as Willow lit the candles. Eliot looked across the circle at her and nodded and they started chanting in a language Nate didn't know. It wasn't Latin, although it sounded a little like it sometimes. Nate couldn't catch any of what they were saying as they sprinkled the separate mixtures into the center of the circle at different intervals until finally there was a flash of bright light that spun inward until it was captured in the pendant and died down, leaving only the pendant, still glowing brightly, in the center of what had been the circle. The circle and everything in it had been seemingly burned away by the spell, leaving the floor looking clean, like none of it had ever been there.

"Did it work?" Buffy asked as soon as the light died down.

"Well," Eliot started, looking at the pendant, "nothing burst into flames. And no one died,"

"And there's no dimensional rip or baddie from Hell," Willow added.

"So yeah," Eliot finished, "it worked."

"Good," Spike said, "I would have hated to explode! Why didn't you two _tell_ us someone might explode?"

"It didn't seem important," Eliot shrugged.

"How is that _not_—"

"Spike. They're right. It didn't happen, so it's irrelevant. So we're ready?" Buffy asked, stepping forward to inspect the pendant Willow was now holding.

"Pretty much," Willow replied.

"Then we get started. Tonight. So let's get ready," Buffy ordered, "Let's get the weapons."

"Weapons?" Nate asked as Buffy, Gunn, and Xander left. Nate guessed it was to get the weapons from wherever they were stashed.

Eliot nodded, "Trust me, you do not want to face down something supernatural without something sharp and pointy on your side."

"Can I come?" Parker asked from next to Nate.

"No, Parker. None of you can come. This is dangerous and none of you are trained in how to handle it. I don't want y'all getting caught in the crossfire because I can't keep track of you. So _none_ of you come. And I mean it," Eliot replied, looking at each of them in turn until they nodded their agreement.

* * *

The rest of the day was spent in preparation. Most of Buffy's crew spent time cleaning and putting together weapons while Wesley, Willow, and Eliot did some more spellwork, creating easily activated charms to use during the job. Nate and Hardison hung back, mostly doing research on Hardison's computer revolving around Eliot's past as this Lindsey character and the supernatural in general. Parker spent her time flitting back and forth between the groups, helping out here and there but mostly just reading over people's shoulders and trying to get her hands on sharp shiny things.

When the sun started to set, Buffy announced that it was time to put their plan into action. The team looked a little nervous as they gathered the supplies they'd been compiling all day long. Willow had the inter-dimensional-portal pendant around her neck and many smaller ones hanging from her hands. The rest of the team was decked out with weapons, although Wesley and Eliot also had some of the spell pendants from earlier in the day.

"Let's go," Buffy said, leading them out the door. Eliot gave one last look back at Nate, Hardison, and Parker, telling them on no uncertain terms to stay put, then disappeared out the door with the rest of them.

* * *

A/N: Yay for not taking as long this time? Maybe? Anyways. It's looking like it's winding down. Only a few more chapters to go, at most. Review please?


	8. Battle

Disclaimer: I don't own Angel or Leverage. They belong to Joss Whedon and Dean Devlin.

Convergence

Chapter 8: Battle

* * *

Eliot watched as the single guard paced back and forth in front of the gate.

"You weren't kidding about the security..." Buffy mumbled, "are we ready?"

Everyone nodded in turn, so Buffy turned to Eliot. Eliot grinned and freed his hands by stuffing the few amulets he had into his pockets. He snuck quietly behind the guy as soon as he was out of the single camera's sight and choked him into unconsciousness before disabling the camera by pulling out the power. "Let's go."

It took two minutes from the back gate into the control room. There was one guy in the room, who Eliot took care of the same way. He sat at the console with Willow.

"So we're good on the plan, right?" Buffy asked, looking at them in turn.

Eliot nodded. "We wait here, watching on the monitors to see when y'all are ready, activating these charms if needed. And then when you give the signal, we activate the portal."

"And if anyone comes in—"

"I protect Willow. I got it," Eliot replied, rolling his eyes at Willow when she grinned over at him.

"Are we sure we can trust him in here with Willow? Alone?" Angel questioned.

"Yes. Let's go," Faith ordered, "I'm getting antsy."

Angel glared at Eliot as they left for good measure. Willow laughed a bit as they turned back to the screens. "He reeeeeaaaally hates you," she giggled quietly.

"Yup. He really does. Probably because I refused to die when he wanted me to."

"Well, it is a pain when people refuse to die..."

Eliot snorted, "True. But I didn't _deserve _to die, so I can't find it in myself to feel bad for him."

"Of course. You seem the helpful sort," Willow replied seriously before they both broke out into grins.

"We should probably pay attention. They're almost to the room," Eliot pointed at the monitor showing their approach.

"Right. It's serious time," Willow replied, glaring back at the screens. Eliot hid a smile. He liked Willow. She was much more fun than Angel-the-perpetual-brooder and his team of sidekicks (although the team of sidekicks was turning out to be pretty awesome in their own right).

"Here we go..." he murmured as the Scoobies on screen reached their prospective places at the three entrances to the giant room.

"Ready?" Willow asked telepathically to the team. The figures on the screen nodded at the cameras. "Okay. Ready. Set. Go!"

The doors broke down simultaneously. Eliot grimaced as they got to work. This was going to get messy. They needed enough of the witches knocked out so that they couldn't do a counter-curse on the portal. And all the witches had to be in a single space only a few meters in diameter so that they would all get sucked in immediately, leaving no room for them to escape the portal. He flinched as Faith got hit with a nasty fire spell from one of the witches, activating a shielding charm to keep the continuous fire from injuring her further.

The witches were proving a bit more difficult to put down than they had expected and Eliot and Willow were out of spells pretty quickly. "Damn..." Willow cursed, "time to improvise..."

"Joy. Can't help you with that. Not a natural witch..." Eliot replied, tensing as Buffy and Faith were thrown into a wall.

"Just watch the door then. I have to concentrate..." Willow replied, closing her eyes as a chill went through the room and lifted her hair in an invisible wind.

Just as Willow started to recite something in Latin the door to the control room opened as two new guards walked in. "Guess they _do_ have a shift change..." Eliot said, standing up to stare the guys down, cracking his knuckles. "C'mon!" The guards looked at each other and drew their guns. Eliot growled, lunging towards them. A few well-placed fists and elbows and the guards were knocked out and guns disarmed. Eliot shut the door and sat back down next to Willow. It took a few more minutes before Buffy was giving the signal for the portal and placing the portal focus in the middle of the circle they needed. "Willow. That's the signal!"

Willow took the amulet out and placed it between them and they started the chant. It was when the portal opened that the plan went wrong. The portal worked, that wasn't the problem. It was the demon that appeared right as the portal opened.

"Oh shit..." Eliot said, "should we get down there?"

"I think so," Willow replied.

They got to the room just as Angel was being impaled by the giant spike protruding from the thing's arm. It was huge and seemed to have an armor-like skin that was causing difficulty as they couldn't seem to pierce it.

"What _is_ that thing?" Eliot yelled to Wesley and Xander across the room over the sound of the closing portal and the screams of the still-conscious witches.

"I've never seen one before! I have no clue!" Wesley replied.

"Awesome..." Eliot mumbled, grabbing his pocket knife and spinning it out into a sword. "This is just awesome..."

Angel stumbled up next to Eliot. "Any ideas?"

"None."

"Didn't you work for an evil law firm? Shouldn't you know these things?"

Eliot glanced over at him. "You did too!"

"Oh yeah. I vaguely remember that..."

"Shut up. Got a plan?"

"Try to kill it?" Angel replied, pulling his hand away from his stomach wound to better grasp his own sword.

"How?"

"Decapitation?"

"Works for me," Eliot agreed as they lunged towards it. He let out a surprised grunt as the demon blocked his sword with its arm, grabbing his wrist and using it to fling him across the room. He hit the wall with a thud, sliding down to the floor and wincing as he felt his ribcage. A couple of those were definitely broken. This thing was strong. He braced himself against the wall and slid to his feet, heading back into the fray as Xander slid across the floor into the same wall.

The second time Eliot flew into the wall he broke an arm and decided it would be best to sit back and study the action to try and find a weakness. Spike and Faith were looking a little worse for the wear; Spike looking like his arm had been nearly ripped off and Faith clutching her bleeding side. Angel was narrowly avoiding getting impaled for a second time while Wesley (who had also had the misfortune of meeting the pointy end of the creature's spike, although not as badly) stood back protecting Willow, who was still at the door they had come through mumbling spells under her breath that seemed to have no effect. Gunn was trying to catch his breath against the opposite wall. It looked to Eliot like he had broken some ribs as well, maybe punctured a lung. And Xander and Buffy were trying their hardest to keep up with the thing, though Eliot was surprised Xander could still see through the amount of blood gushing from a head wound into his good eye.

Out of all of them (besides Willow, who didn't need to get close to do damage), Buffy seemed to be in the best shape, but even she was having a hard time keeping up with the thing as a gash on her left arm put it and two-handed weapons out of commission. Eliot shook his hair out of his face and concentrated on watching the demon as Angel landed next to him.

"Gonna help?"

"Looking for weaknesses," Eliot replied without looking over.

"Found any?"

"Not yet."

Angel shrugged and headed to get an unaware Buffy (who was busy helping Xander) out of the way of the giant spike that had gotten him earlier. The creature roared and yanked a battle axe away from Spike, turning and throwing it towards Eliot. Before he could even process his situation, Eliot was jerked out of the way by none other than Angel, landing ungracefully in a heap on top of him on the floor as the axe flew by harmlessly and embedded into the wall behind where he'd been standing. Eliot grimaced as he realized the fall had screwed up his arm and ribs even more, maybe even puncturing an organ, but he was still alive so he counted his blessings as Angel rolled out from under him and helped him back up.

"Thanks," Eliot said with a wince as he tried not to jostle his arm. He was thankful Angel had broken his fall, because otherwise he's pretty sure he wouldn't even be able to move anymore.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. Go help them," Eliot replied, nodding over in Buffy and Xander's direction.

Eliot moved back towards the wall to support himself, pretty sure he was bleeding internally. It was then that Eliot spotted it. The guy seemed damn near invulnerable but...

"Faith!" he called to the person closest to the demon, "I think there's a gap in its plating!"

"Where?"

"Right under the shoulder!"

The demon growled, turning to Eliot, but that exposed its back to Faith, who took that opportunity to jam a sword through the tiny gap in the plating, twisting it for good measure. The creature howled as it fell to the ground and Gunn came over with his axe, swinging it down into the demon's neck again and again until the head came off.

"Well," Spike announced as everyone panted, "that was easy."

Eliot almost collapsed in relief.

"I hurt all over..." Xander groaned from the floor where he'd fallen earlier.

"Let's get back," Buffy suggested, "we could use some patching up."

"No kidding," Gunn complained from the demon's body, "I feel like a ragdoll sent through the washing machine."

Eliot snorted, wincing as it jostled his broken ribs. "Back sounds good."

* * *

Nate, Hardison, and Parker were sitting in the living room waiting when Eliot and the rest of the bloody and beaten crew stumbled through the door.

"What the Hell happened?" Nate exclaimed when he saw the state everyone was in.

Eliot glanced up at Nate from his position supporting some of Faith's weight with his less-broken side. "The portal brought a demon with it. A very strong demon that kicked our collective asses. Can y'all clear the couches so we can sit?"

Nate nodded, shooing Hardison and Parker. "Why don't you two help Willow get whatever she needs to bandage everyone up?" The two thieves nodded and followed the fairly un-injured Willow to Eliot's kitchen, where she had stashed a bunch of charms and witchy salves and potions to heal injuries after the battle.

Nate looked at the collection of injured fighters in front of him noticed that Angel and Spike were already looking a lot better than the rest of the crew and attributed it to the fact that they were vampires after thinking over what he had learned the past few days. And although that thought would never feel right in his head, he was willing to set it aside for now.

"Who's got the worst?" he asked as they all tried to sit down in ways that wouldn't pain them further.

"Get Gunn, Xander, Wes, and Eliot first," Faith replied, shifting uncomfortably while holding her side, sticky with clotting blood. Nate hesitated, eyeing her stomach wound suspiciously. There was no way she wasn't one of the worst injured. "I'm serious. Eliot's hurt the worst," Faith ordered, pointing towards him.

Eliot groaned. "Never. Again," he complained as Willow, Hardison, and Parker came back in, "Never again will I help y'all with something like this. Too rusty."

"Well at least you still have your head," Willow replied lightly as she cut his shirt off to avoid jostling broken bones.

"I think a rib might have punctured something," Eliot informed her as she poked around at his side.

"Definitely," Willow replied, looking back up at him, "You okay if I use magic to heal all this?"

"Just heal the worst of it. The arm, the ribs, whatever they punctured. I can handle the little scrapes and cuts."

"Little scrapes and cuts like this gash in your side?"

"It'll be fine," Eliot assured, glancing up at the rest of Willow's team, "you'll need to save up some strength for the rest of these fools."

Willow nodded and got to work. When she was done with Eliot's major injuries he excused himself to do some stitching and bandaging over by the kitchen and out of the way of everyone else. Parker went with him and provided extra hands.

Hardison and Nate were mesmerized by Willow working. She got Wesley next, taking care of his stomach wound first and then putting a healing salve on his smaller wounds. From there she moved on to Gunn, then Xander. Nate was a bit confused as to how all of this worked still, but seeing it with his own eyes was certainly helping his ability to believe in it. Once Willow was finished with Buffy and Faith's injuries she put some quick stitches in the worst of Spike and Angel's just to keep them from bleeding out everywhere, but this just proved to Nate that vampires healed pretty quick. Which explained Eliot's nonplussed reaction when Angel had been bleeding on the doorstep.

Once everyone was fixed up they collapsed onto the couches. Everyone had some minor injuries left that would heal up within the next few days, but for the most part Willow's magic had gotten them all healed up. Eliot was the only one with any major injuries left, which he insisted to let heal by themselves. Even if he had wanted to let Willow heal them, her power reserves were completely exhausted between the battle and healing everyone else and she was currently passed out against the arm of the couch.

"Never again..." Eliot reiterated as he laid his head against the back of the chair. Parker patted his head in what he thought was supposed to be a comforting way as she sat down on the arm of the chair, flinging her legs across his lap.

Angel grinned over at him. "You're just mad because I saved your ass," he replied, "or head, as it were."

Eliot looked up, "Yeah...you're not really that bad, I guess," he admitted.

Buffy looked over Angel curiously, "Do you think that you can stop being such an ass now and go back to helping us?"

Angel turned to her. "You're not mad? I mean, just yesterday you stabbed me..."

"I think you proved that you're not evil and we can trust you," Buffy replied slowly, "So, I guess you're forgiven. You did save my ass tonight too."

"Hey!" Xander interjected, "I think that I need an apology still!"

"For what?" Angel questioned.

"For you trying to eat me a few years back!" he replied indignantly.

"Oh. Right. Sorry..."

"I accept your apology."

"So we're all okay now, right?" Angel asked the rest of the crew while Nate and Hardison watched with interest.

Everyone nodded except Spike. "I've never liked you," he snorted, "so don't expect me to start now."

"Deal," Angel sighed.

"Y'all want to camp out here and leave tomorrow?" Eliot offered after a few minutes of silence.

"That'd be great..." Xander replied with a yawn.

Eliot chuckled to himself and closed his eyes again until Parker started poking at his chest. "Eliot?"

"Hm?"

"Are we staying here too?"

"I don't plan on moving anytime soon," Eliot replied, keeping his eyes closed.

"Okay!" Parker chirped, curling into his chest to go to sleep, uncaring of the slight wince he gave when she elbowed one of his leftover injuries. He wrapped an arm around her to keep her in place and pretty soon the two of them were asleep. At least, Nate thought they were. He was pretty sure Eliot wasn't actually sleeping heavily at all and would wake up if there was even the slightest bit of danger imminent.

Nate approached the group, guessing it would be good to offer them a more comfy place to sleep. "I can get you blankets and take you up to the training room. There's mats up there, so it'll be more comfortable."

"That'll be great," Buffy replied. Her and the rest of the crew got up, resituating Willow more comfortably on the couch with a blanket before following Nate upstairs with extra blankets and pillows. Hardison waved goodbye and went to his own apartment when Nate returned. Nate locked the door and put a blanket over Eliot and Parker. Eliot proved his previous assumptions from earlier by waking up when Nate approached. He simply thanked Nate with a silent nod and pulled the blanket around them before closing his eyes again. Nate yawned again, deciding he'd think about it some more tomorrow, and headed up to bed.

* * *

A/N: 2 chapters left! And I'd like to dedicate this one to The Phantom Dragon for keeping me in check and pointing out the sad Angel bashing going on. I didn't mean to! See? Angel got his day! XD


	9. Resolution

Disclaimer: I don't own Angel or Leverage. They belong to Joss Whedon and Dean Devlin.

Convergence

Chapter 9: Resolution

* * *

When Eliot woke up in the morning his side was killing him. The gash that was there hadn't been very deep, but it had been deep enough to worry about bleeding out too much, definitely needing stitches. He'd stitched it very carefully and bandaged it even more so, all after cleaning it thoroughly, but apparently it wasn't thorough enough. Eliot bit back a groan as he gently palpated the area to check it, trying not to wake Parker as he shifted. The demon thing had gauged him with its claws; that was how he'd gotten the injury. And it was from another dimension, so there was probably something on it that this dimension's disinfectant couldn't kill. And damn, he hated the supernatural because this was definitely infected.

He cursed under his breath and tried getting up again, gently picking Parker up then placing her back into the chair, where she curled up happily, still asleep. Eliot wandered back to his kitchen, shutting the door and un-bandaging the wound to get another look at it. He grimaced as he looked at the definitely infected gash on his side and cursed again. This was why he had left all this shit behind after L.A. He tried to work through the pain without a sound, but he couldn't help the little gasp he made as he cut the stitches out. Eliot bit back a grunt of pain as he tried to disinfect the gash again. "Damn it," he muttered, cleaning it out best he could.

"Gooooood morning!" he heard Hardison announce as he slammed the front door open.

"Shit," Eliot cursed. There was no way he was letting anyone see this. One, it made him feel like an idiot, and two, he didn't want to look weak in front of everyone. He put some quick stitches in the gash, knowing he'd have to re-disinfect it whenever he could get away again. He rebandaged it and left the kitchen to greet Hardison, who was holding a conversation with Willow about…something incredibly geeky. Parker was trying to follow the conversation with interest, but Eliot could tell she didn't understand all the geek-speak (much like himself).

He walked over to the chair Parker was perched on and tapped her shoulder. She glanced up at him before moving to let him sit in the chair and settling herself on the arm. Just as Parker looked ready to open her mouth, Nate came stumbling down the stairs and Buffy and crew came in the front door.

Faith headed directly for the kitchen, presumably to help Nate brew the coffee. The rest of them headed towards Willow and settled down on the floor and table. Hardison glanced towards Eliot, seemingly just noticing him. A look of sadness and confusion flickered briefly across his face before he grinned.

"So what's for breakfast?"

Eliot snorted. "Make it yourself. I've been cooking way too much this week."

Hardison pouted a bit, but went to get some cereal. Parker turned toward Eliot with a grin, actually _batting her eyelashes_ at him. Eliot groaned and rolled his eyes, but followed Hardison into the kitchen and got her a bowl of cereal, grabbing an apple for himself before heading back to the living room and handing the bowl to her before sitting back down.

"Oh, what. You'll make something for Parker but you won't for me?" Hardison complained.

"It's cereal Hardison."

"Yeah! But you got Parker's for her and I—"

"Just eat your breakfast," Eliot commanded, taking a bite of his apple. "Y'all can help yourself to anything in the kitchens for breakfast," he added, turning towards Buffy and her crew.

"Thanks," Xander replied as they all moved in that direction.

"There's pig's blood in the back of my fridge," Eliot called after Spike and Angel.

"That's still disgusting," Hardison announced through a mouthful of Frosted Flakes.

Eliot shrugged and finished his apple as everyone milled around. Eventually the whole group was congregated in the living room again and the silence grew awkward.

"Sooooooooooo," Hardison said, "anyone care to explain this whole 'monsters' thing in better detail?"

Eliot sighed. "You really wanna know?"

"Uh. Yeah! Way I see it I should know about these things. That way they don't take me by surprise," Hardison retorted.

Eliot sighed, glancing over at Buffy. "Y'all mind? Before you leave?"

Buffy took a breath, "Sure. We can go into the whole speech. But there's one thing it all boils down to: monsters are real. Yada, yada, yada. There's really not much else you need to know."

"You're normal. You don't need to worry about this stuff," Xander added.

"It doesn't change the fact that we need to be informed," Nate butted in, "We run a high-risk job. And I'm pretty sure we've probably run across this stuff before without even _knowing_ it. And I like to know what I'm up against. Or what I'll possibly be up against in the future."

Buffy nodded, standing and moving in front of the group. "So it goes like this…"

The conversation went on for a couple of hours, explaining the very basics of the supernatural realms. Hardison and Nate asked plenty of questions, trying to delve deeper, but the gang never went far beneath the surface of the world Eliot wanted to protect his team from. Parker sat and nodded along, like she knew what was going on, and Eliot sat trying not to move so that the pain in his side wouldn't become a bigger problem than it already was.

At the end of the talk, Nate and Hardison were looking a bit shell-shocked. Eliot took it upon himself to lead Buffy and crew out into the hallway to let the information overload soak in. He tried not to clutch at his side as he lifted himself out of the chair, but he noticed Angel's brow furrow in a typical fashion as he noticed Eliot's slight grimace. He ignored it and led them all outside, shutting the door softly behind them.

"Thanks for coming out," he said, offering a hand to Buffy.

She smiled, shaking his hand, "No problem. Anything else comes up, just call. You're an ally. I can see that now."

Eliot grinned as he caught Angel rolling his eyes behind her. "Thanks," he repeated.

Faith pushed her way through the crowd. "I'm gonna leave with them, Linds. Girl's gotta keep moving," she said, giving him a tight hug. He tried not to grimace as he wrapped his arms around her in return.

"Be safe," he cautioned, grinning at her as she stepped back.

"You too, wonder boy."

Eliot chuckled, patting her head as she walked away. Faith scowled at him, sticking her tongue out as she returned to Xander's side.

"Everybody ready?" Buffy asked, slinging a duffle bag of weapons over her shoulder.

"I'm staying," Angel announced from the back of the group. Everyone turned to look at him. "Look, I've been tracking these people for a long time. I'm staying in Boston until I know for sure it's taken care of," he explained. Buffy looked ready to retort, so he cut her off. "I'll contact you guys when I'm done here for sure. I'm tired of not being on the same side. I like working with you. I just want to make sure this is finished. I've spent way too much time on it not to."

Buffy nodded, waving goodbye to Eliot before turning and walking away, the rest of her team following behind her. When they disappeared down the stairs Angel turned towards Eliot.

"So…mind putting me up for a few more days?" he questioned.

"I still don't like you," Eliot replied.

"But?"

"Sure," Eliot sighed. There was no point in arguing, really. Angel would stick around like a burr anyways. There was a moment of silence. "Say it."

"Okay. You're still hurt."

"Yup."

"It's infected."

"That's why I hate the supernatural."

"I can—"

"I _don't_ need your help Angel."

"Okay, okay."

Eliot crossed his arms, glaring at Angel across the hall. He didn't know why the vampire was trying to help and he wasn't sure which scared him more: Angel trying to kill him repeatedly or trying to be nice. It was too soon to tell.

"You'll need to restock the blood."

Eliot snorted. "Do it yourself. Bucher's open after dark," he replied, walking back into Nate's apartment.

"Fine," Angel replied, following him through the living area and into Eliot's kitchen, closing the door. Eliot glared at him, but went about taking his bandages off again anyways. He knew Angel, stubborn asshole that he was, wouldn't leave. He grimaced a bit as pain shot through his torso when he tried to get at the stitches again. "Need help?"

"I'm fine…" Eliot ground out.

"Yeah, sure," Angel replied, coming over anyways, swatting Eliot's hands away and getting to work on the wound himself. Eliot growled, but let him. The infection was hurting and he didn't feel like fighting with the vampire when he knew Angel would win anyways. "You need a stronger disinfectant."

"Then get me one when you go get your blood," Eliot replied, biting back a hiss of pain as the disinfectant hit the gash. "Why are you helping me?"

"You don't seem to get it, Lindsey," Angel replied, getting ready to bandage up Eliot's side again, "I'm not the bad guy. I never was."

"You tortured me. The whole time I was in L.A. Hell, you cut off my hand. You tried to have me killed," Eliot bit out as Angel put a little too much pressure on his very sensitive, still infected side.

"You were evil," Angel replied calmly, finished bandaging.

"I was a corporate lawyer. Who then quit and spent two years doing nothing but research Wolfram and Hart in order to take them down. You're the one who sold out."

"I was trying to take them down from the inside."

"You had me killed."

"Relax. You survived."

Eliot huffed, moving to the sink for a glass of water. "So why are you sticking around here?"

"I need to make sure—"

"Bullshit."

Angel sighed, leaning against the fridge, "Fine. You're hell-bent on protecting your team. Right now, you can't. Plain and simple. You can barely move without wincing." Eliot growled in protest, but Angel talked over him, "and let's face it, there's still a chance that our shenanigans from last night result in a small attack on us."

Eliot hated it, but he knew Angel was right. He took a deep breath, steeling himself for what he was about to do. He needed to suck up his pride eventually, right? It was time to move past L.A. Way past. "Thanks…and for what it's worth…I'm sorry. About trying to kill you." And it was true. Mostly. Eliot was sorry for that part of his life. He still felt slightly justified in the whole thing, but Angel hadn't been in the wrong. He might have been a little…overzealous when it came to stopping everything Eliot planned. But in the end he was trying to save the world. And Eliot worked for evil incarnate.

Angel blinked in surprise. "Thanks…sorry about the hand. And the whole assassination thing."

Eliot grinned. "Can we move on and pretend this little…heart to heart…thing…never happened?" he replied, gesturing between them.

"Please," Angel said, putting away Eliot's medical supplies. "Ready to go back out there?"

"Shut up. Don't patronize me."

* * *

It was night by the time Eliot was able to leave Nate's apartment. Parker spent all day sitting next to Eliot trying to keep him in a pointless conversation while Hardison grilled Angel on life as a vampire. When night fell, Nate kicked them all out. Hardison and Parker headed to their respective apartments. Eliot glanced up at Angel. "You can sleep on my couch…" he grumbled.

Angel grinned, "Lead the way."

Eliot started walking. He wasn't sure if it was smart to take a vampire back to his very secure apartment, but he could just uninvite the guy as soon as he left.

"Um…can we stop by the butcher's? I like eating in the mornings."

"It's on the way."

When they got back to Eliot's apartment, he invited Angel inside and gave him a blanket for the couch. He then went into his workout room (where he kept all his medical supplies) and dug around for a magical salve he knew he had in there somewhere. It wouldn't heal the gash in his side, but it should help in making the infection a lot more bearable. Combined with the stronger disinfectant he found, he should be able to get the infection to go away in a few days. Then the gash could actually start to heal.

He grinned in silent triumph when he found it, turning around to set everything up on the table and almost running into Angel. "Don't do that!"

Angel grinned, "Need help?"

"I'm not a two-year old. I can take care of myself. I've been doing so for years."

"Okay," Angel shrugged, walking back into the living room, "Goodnight."

Eliot rolled his eyes and got to work.

* * *

Hardison, Nate, and Parker were all sitting in the living area when Eliot and Angel walked in the next morning.

"—doesn't change the fact that puppets are _evil_!" Angel exclaimed as he came in and sat down.

Eliot rolled his eyes, "Maybe. But at least they're small. I mean, I'd rather fight a puppet than a werewolf."

Nate opened his mouth to say something, but decided that there wasn't really much he could actually _say_ to that, so closed it again.

"Hey, Eliot, what'cha talkin' about?" Parker questioned, rocking back and forth in her armchair.

Eliot sighed, ignoring her and settling back in his chair. His side still hurt like hell and now he had to put up with Her Royal Craziness for the rest of the day. Most days he truly loved Parker like a sister, but some days it took all his strength to try not to strangle her. Eliot closed his eyes and let himself fall into a sleep-like trance to the sound of Hardison and Parker's voices.

Eliot jerked himself awake what had to be three hours later, if the sun was anything to go by. It was incredibly unusual for him to sleep at all, much less this long, but he figured that meant his body was doing its job healing the infected gash in his side, which was currently throbbing. But that wasn't what had awoken him. He turned towards the kitchen, where the rest of his team was hanging out with Angel. He forced himself to his feet and over to the counter.

"Hey sleepy-head," Hardison greeted with a big grin.

Eliot growled in his direction before turning to Angel. "Something's wrong."

Angel put down his mug and stood. "You sure?"

Eliot nodded, turning towards the window. "There."

Angel frowned at Eliot briefly before turning towards the rest of Eliot's team. "Hide," he ordered, ushering them down to hide between counters in the kitchen.

Eliot took a few deep breaths to prepare himself for whatever came through the window, turning slightly when Angel's hand landed on his shoulder.

"Don't overextend yourself," he warned quietly right as the window broke.

Angel immediately placed himself between Eliot and the demon that had come through. It was ugly and blue, but was only about the size of Eliot, so he was fairly confident they could get rid of it quickly. They worked in tandem to confuse the demon until Eliot was able to grab a foot-long knife from its hiding place and toss it to Angel who quickly decapitated the thing, causing a greenish goop to pool over the floor. "Gross," Eliot said, trying to flick some of the goop off of his hand.

"Maybe we should send the demon back to them in pieces to prove that we shouldn't be messed with…" Angel proposed, poking at the demon head with his foot.

Eliot shrugged, "Sounds good to me."

Nate and Hardison chose that moment to come out of hiding. "What _is_ that thing?" Hardison asked.

"Demon. The younger coven members probably sent it to try to get back at us," Eliot answered.

"We're sending a message back," Angel finished.

"Where's Parker?" Eliot questioned, looking around the room.

"Right here!" she chirped, seeming to appear right behind Angel, making him jump.

Eliot held back a laugh. He was in so much pain from his injury that it was actually getting hard for him to stand straight. "Angel, let's get this guy sent back to the coven before his…goop starts staining the floor."

* * *

A/N: Sooooo sorry it took so long. To make it up to you, I'm also posting the last chapter pretty quick here. Like tomorrow.


	10. What do we do now?

Disclaimer: I don't own Angel or Leverage. They belong to Joss Whedon and Dean Devlin.

Convergence

Chapter 10: What do we do now?

* * *

Eliot watched as Angel cut the demon into smaller parts so that they could fit it more easily in a box in order to ship it over the headquarters. He would help, but his side honestly felt like it was on fire, so it was all he could do to stand there pretending he was perfectly fine. Him and Angel then left the apartment with the box, leaving strict instructions not to touch the goop on the floor and that they'd be back soon to handle it. Eliot was pretty sure it wouldn't hurt them, he'd just prefer that Angel dispose of it than his team (and he was pretty sure that they would too).

Once done with shipping the box of demon parts, Angel and Eliot headed back to Nate's. Eliot was stopped right outside the door to the apartment by Angel's hand on his arm. "You don't look so good."

Eliot grimaced, "I'll be fine, I think. I forgot how long this stuff can take to heal. And how painful it was."

"You could always—"

"No magic, Angel. It's a crutch and I don't need it. Hell, I've been through worse than this with less pleasant conditions, so I'll be fine."

"Right…" Angel replied skeptically.

"I really will be fine. Once we're done with all this I'll re-disinfect, redress, and be good to go."

Angel shook his head, "You have _limits_ Lindsey, and—"

"And this isn't one of them," Eliot replied adamantly.

"Fine," Angel sighed, "Just don't overexert yourself."

"I won't."

"Stubborn asshole."

"I say the same thing about you," Eliot replied, opening the door. His team was sitting in the living room discussing which job they should take next, so Eliot left them to it and went with Angel to the goop on the floor. "Is it…crystallizing?"

"Yeah. Some demon blood does that."

"Huh. Let's just get it off the floor."

"Agreed."

After the demon goop was taken care of Eliot managed to convince Angel that he would be perfectly fine if Angel left and that he could now do so. The conversation was more of a hushed argument held while Eliot was redressing his side about Eliot's ability to operate while he was still healing, but Eliot pointed out that it already looked a little better, so it wouldn't be that much of a problem. "I've fought through more."

They left the kitchen and Angel announced that he was leaving, so the team got up and came over to say goodbye.

Nate shook Angel's hand. "It was nice meeting you."

"Likewise," Angel replied, "Good to see that someone's keeping Lindsey in line."

"It's Eliot."

"Right," Angel replied with a grin, turning to Hardison, "It was nice meeting you too."

Hardison nodded, but stayed back as if he was still unsure as to whether or not Angel was dangerous to him.

Parker suddenly surged forewords from next to Eliot, leaning up into Angel's face. "Will you come back?"

Angel glanced up at Eliot, who glared at him and shook his head. Angel took the hint, looking back at Parker, "Not anytime soon."

"Too bad," Parker sighed, moving back to Eliot's side.

Angel shook his head, shaking Eliot's hand one last time. "You'll call if more complications come up?"

"Sure."

"Good," Angel replied, turning to the door and heading out. Eliot was a bit surprised that this whole week hadn't ended in a giant grudge match with one of them eviscerated, but he was glad it hadn't. He decided not to dwell on his newfound respect for Angel and instead focus on his team.

* * *

The next day was the most normal day Eliot had had in a week. Aside from the fact that his side was still infected and highly painful and didn't look to be healing quickly, Eliot felt better than he had in a while. The immediate threat to him and his team was over and Nate had another job lined up. Granted, Eliot wasn't going to be of very much use, but this one shouldn't be very Hitter-heavy, especially since it was a rather small job (although those did tend to go the most wrong).

"Good. You're here," Nate greeted as Eliot came into the apartment, "We're getting started on recon."

Eliot nodded, moving over to the couches where the other three were gathered, "What do you need me to do?"

"Go with Parker to the company. I need you two to track out a day in this guy's life, as well as the patterns of his employees."

"Sounds easy enough. Watch and learn detail."

"Yes, but since this company is smaller than the ones we're used to, be extra careful."

Parker grinned, turning around in her seat to look at Eliot. He ruffled her hair briefly with his hand before going to gather supplies for their day.

"Hardison, I need you to—"

"Monitor their progress. I know Nate."

"Yes. And also keep watch on the news feeds. Anything that mentions anyone in that company in the past few months, we need to know about."

"I can do that."

"Good. Let's get to work," Nate announced, waving Parker and Eliot off to their job.

It went surprisingly well, considering that none of them were completely focused on the job because of recent events. There was a slight slip-up on Eliot and Parker's end with one security guard, but it was taken care of with a quick punch or two and a closet and they were on their way again. All in all, they got everything they needed and Eliot didn't have to do much else physically, which was good as he wasn't sure he could have. He was moving much slower than normal.

The team was sitting around relaxing after a long day of research and recon when they heard someone at the door to Nate's apartment. They all turned as it opened.

"Sophie?" Nate asked in surprise as she came through, "What are you doing here?"

"Hardison called. He said that something was going on and you needed me. I couldn't get here until now."

"We don't ne—" Nate started to say before Parker interrupted.

"Sophie! You'll never guess what's been happening this past week!" she exclaimed excitedly.

"Really?"

Hardison nodded. "Apparently the supernatural is real."

Sophie laughed. "Oh, I already knew _that_."

* * *

A/N: There we go! 10 chapters and around 26,000 words later, it's done! Whew. This brings us to the end of the story. I might eventually continue in the 'verse, but it's over for now. Hope you enjoyed it!

Tell me what you think. ^^


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